Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Local firm goes back to basics and wows with its tasty treats
From a tiny workshop up a cobbled lane in a Lanarkshire town, a small business spawned by the big dreams of a young couple is producing exquisite chocolate to please the palate of the most discerning connoisseur.
Named Bare Bones Chocolate by creators Lara Messer and Cameron Dixon as a nod to their no additives, no emulsifiers promise, everything the brand represents speaks love and respect – not only for each other and the enterprise they are lovingly creating through good, old fashioned hard work, but also for the farmers on the other side of the world who produce the finest raw cacao beans which they turn into handcrafted, single-origin chocolate bars in micro batches.
Those bars, which have won a clutch of awards from the prestigious Academy of Chocolate, pay homage to cacao, which directors Lara and Cameron respectfully refer to as “one of the most complex, delicious and fascinating foods in the world”.
Cameron explained: “Buying speciality cacao means paying far beyond the global market Fair Trade price.
“Paying for the worth of the cacao is so important in guaranteeing high-quality crops, creating a sustainable future for the farm and building a mutually beneficial relationship with the farmers.
“It’s not magic. An incredible chocolate bar starts with an incredible farmer.”
Bare Bones Chocolate was born out of the meeting of minds of Lara and Cameron, whose love story began at the age of 15 when they met at a skate park at Rouken Glen Country Park on Glasgow’s southside.
While Cameron graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from Strathclyde University and Lara went on to build a successful career in food photography, working with London celebrity chefs, the couple shared a passion for gourmet cuisine – and speciality coffee.
Cameron and Lara – whose father, Charlie Messer, owns gourmet coffee roasting business, Tin Donkey – learned through keeping abreast of foodie news the increasing popularity for making chocolate at home.
She said: “We tried it – and it was so exciting. We thought it was incredible and wanted to be part of a growing market.
“Look at the way coffee was huge in the US before it came to the UK. By producing craft chocolate bars, we are hoping to be part of that culture change when it really booms in the UK.”
Their humble production line began in Lara’s parents’ garage in the village of Eaglesham by using Tin Donkey’s coffee roasters.
When friends enthused about the test batches they were invited to taste, they got to work on designing the packaging.
Driven by their love of the chocolatemaking process and the opportunity to take control of their own destiny as business owners, the couple left their jobs to launch Bare Bones Chocolate in November 2018.
The manufacturing process moved to a 200 sq ft workshop a year ago.
Now, with the £50,000 awarded to the firm by Scottish EDGE earlier this month in recognition of its highgrowth potential, Lara and Cameron are searching the Glasgow area for new, larger premises and have plans to recruit staff.
Proud to be one of the few UK producers who craft from bean to bar, Cameron’s talent with machinery, Lara’s creative eye, and invaluable input from his product designer sister, Holly, culminate in a complementary set of skills that contribute to chocolate
bars that taste incredible and are packed with beautiful simplicity.
But as their fledgling business begins to fly, the young entrepreneurs remain resolute in their commitment to sustainability.
“We wrap our bars by hand in Vegware compostable sheets, sealed with our signature ‘Handcrafted in Glasgow’ label. People like that wee surprise when they open it up,” continued Lara,
who is buoyed by the tremendous support of Glasgow people for Glasgow businesses.
“We then label, stamp and fold our boxes by hand. Our beautiful boxes are made from recycled coffee cups.
“All our packaging is from recycled sources and 100 per cent recyclable or compostable.”
Because they handcraft the chocolate from a raw cacao bean through to a finished bar, they retain control through every step of the labour-intensive process.
It’s not unusual for the couple to work into the early hours, during which they have acquired and developed a wealth of knowledge and skills that allow them to enrich the flavours of their chocolate even further.
“Cacao is one of the few foods that is both fermented and roasted, creating unparalleled flavour profiles,” explained Cameron.
“However, these incredible flavours have been mainly lost due to the demand for mass-manufactured industrial chocolate over the past century.
“Any large company is going to have different priorities than a small one, and for industrial chocolate, the priorities are consistency and low cost.
“Industrial chocolate may seem cheap, but we are paying the cost in other ways. Each bar is full of unnecessary and harmful fats, e-numbers and additives – with often less than 20 per cent cacao content.
“Once the sacks arrive at our workshop, our process is long, with care taken at every stage. We hand sort, assessing each bean individually for defects.
“Beans that have defects or are badly fermented don’t taste as good. Sorting the good from the bad ensures that only the best beans are used.”
Cameron, who has visited a cacao plantation in Columbia and invested time with farmers learning about their crops, continued: “Various chemical reactions occur within the cacao bean when it is roasted.
“We roast our beans in a modified coffee roaster in 5kg batches. We like to roast light and slow, to allow the sugars to caramelise in the bean and the natural flavours to develop.
“Our roaster allows us to control the heat input to the beans at each development stage, while rotating the beans to ensure each bean is evenly roasted – a level of control and consistency not achievable with oven roasting.
“We then crack the roasted beans to separate the outer husk from the nibs using a modified grain mill. The nibs and husks are then separated by a process called winnowing.
“We add nibs and a small percentage of cocoa butter to a heavy stone grinder called a melanger. We then add sugar and grind for up to 72 hours reducing the particle size of the ingredients.
“This three-day process also works to mellow the chocolate, eliminating the volatile acids and bitterness commonly associated with dark chocolate.”
Just as the flavour and body of fine wines are influenced by the soil and climate of the areas from which they originate, so too are the qualities of the cacao fruit harvest.
Also much like cheese or fine wine, chocolate’s qualities change and enrich over time, which is why Bare Bones Chocolate is aged for two to three weeks to allow the flavours to mature.
After ageing, they align the chocolate’s crystal structure to give it a crisp snap.
The products – which include vegan-friendly hot chocolate flakes from the Dominican Republic that are roasted and stone-ground with a hint of Maldon sea salt – are sold through independents, cafes and delis, and are also on sale in Selfridge’s food halls.
With more investment under their belt in the form of Scottish EDGE funding in a grant/loan split, the couple dream of a manufacturing operation that also has a shop front and can offer tasting sessions at which visitors
can enjoy a comprehensive chocolate experience.
“We are in such a fortunate position that people love our chocolate,” said Lara, whose company’s awards include Academy of Chocolate gold accreditation for brand experience.
“During lockdown when people couldn’t go to restaurants, they wanted luxury – and our chocolate was a luxury thing to have.
“At £6.50 each, it gives people the confidence it is an amazing chocolate to try and, once they’ve tasted it, people are hooked.”