Yorkshire Gold: The rise of Bullion Chocolate
Sheffield’s first and only 'bean-to-bar' craft chocolate maker is slowly but surely becoming an integral part of the city's food scene. Luke Owen Smith finds out more from founder Max Scotford.

At 12 years old, Max Scotford was selling sandwiches on a golf course
in Dronfield, the first of many entrepreneurial endeavours. But in 2016, at the age of 21, Max realised his destiny was
chocolate.
Enter Bullion Chocolate, Sheffield’s first and only craft chocolate
maker. Part of the UK’s emerging ‘bean-to-bar’ chocolate
movement, Max and his team produce very small batches,
using some of the highest quality cocoa beans from around the world.
“It’s about doing things properly,” says Max. “We’re taking
something as simple and pure as a cocoa bean, and taking it through a
series of steps to produce something special. We do it with care, and
pay attention to detail.”
The
concept of making small batches of chocolate from scratch is a
relatively new one. The majority of the world’s chocolate is made
in huge industrial factories, while many smaller chocolate
companies use pre-made chocolate, known as couverture, which they
buy from big producers and then transform into various treats. People
who work with couverture tend to be known as chocolatiers,
while those making chocolate from bean-to-bar tend to be known as
chocolate makers.
Max
was drawn to chocolate-making after watching the documentary series
Willie's Wonky Chocolate Factory on Channel 4. That
program introduced him to the concept of single-origin chocolate and
specialty cocoa, which can offer a huge range of flavours, far beyond
the standard ‘chocolatey’ flavour that we’re all familiar with.
Max has always loved mainstream chocolate – and he tells me he’s still partial
to the occasional KitKat – but he quickly realised that high-quality,
single-origin chocolate is a completely different thing.
“What
we produce – you only need two or three squares and you’re
satisfied. Whereas something like Dairy Milk is very moreish, because
of the amount of sugar. You’re not really tasting the cocoa. It’s
just a sweet confection.”

Max Scotford, founder of Bullion Chocolate.
Bullion ChocolateBullion’s first three releases were all 70% dark chocolate bars
containing just two ingredients: cocoa and sugar. The cocoa beans were
ethically-sourced from Bolivia, Guatemala and Madagascar, and they offered completely different flavour profiles, ranging
from bright and fruity to deep and nutty. This pure expression of the
beans’ natural flavours is what inspired the name ‘Bullion’, the term used for high-purity gold.
Over
the past two years, the Bullion range has expanded to include some
unique and beautiful bars made with additional ingredients, like
the candied ginger bar and the whisky nibs enriched bar, which is
made in collaboration with Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery.
There’s
also the single-origin Hallmark milk chocolate, which exploded
in popularity last year after legendary chocolatier Paul A Young
featured it in his Saturday Kitchen TV spot, describing it as tasting
like "true, British, nostalgic chocolate".
Without a doubt, nostalgia
plays a major role in our love of chocolate, as most of us have been
tasting it since before we can remember. One of the challenges for
craft chocolate makers like Bullion is introducing people to much
higher quality chocolate to create new nostalgia, which takes a long
time to develop.
Max is inspired by the depth of connection and brand
loyalty that many local people have for Henderson’s Relish. He
hopes that one day Bullion Chocolate can be equally part of
Sheffield’s identity. “The people of Sheffield have truly bought
into it. They’re getting Henderson’s Relish tattoos. It embodies
who they are. It’s nostalgic and it’s truly Sheffield. Bullion’s
not at that point yet.”
But the process is in full swing. Top Sheffield
restaurants like Jöro, Bench and V OR V are using Bullion Chocolate
in their dishes, and they have collaborated with
local breweries, distilleries and bakeries. You can find Bullion bars
for sale at some of the city’s best coffee spots, and you can visit
their chocolate-filled cafe and bar at Cutlery Works. You can even take a tour of the factory, as long as you book in advance. Slowly but
surely, Bullion is becoming an integral part of Sheffield’s food
scene.
Older
readers may remember the glory days of chocolate production in York,
when Rowntree’s and Terry’s were world leaders of the industry,
before they were taken over by multinational corporations and the
quality of the products went downhill. Along with a handful of other
craft chocolate makers, Max is writing a new chapter in Yorkshire’s
chocolate story, producing chocolate that’s higher quality, more
ethical and more delicious than anything we’ve seen before.
If you’re yet to discover the joy of craft chocolate, find your nearest Bullion stockist and go for gold.