Sea buckthorn in 68% plain salted chocolate

Sea buckthorn

Hippophae rhamnoides

This is one of those plants that I have to travel to the sea side to collect – which is no great hardship, obviously! By far the best place to find it in quantity is along the East Lothian coast, and I usually head to Gullane. I have tried exploring both Fife and Angus coasts for it, as they are a little closer to home, but it was not particularly successful. One problem is that it is considered an invasive species in some places, and so there are programmes to cut it out or ‘manage’ it; which means I might hear that there is some bushes somewhere, but when I visit I find they have been cut down.

The chocolate we have matched it with is a 68% Dominican Republic plain chocolate made by Bare Bones, in Glasgow. They have added a touch of salt to the bar, and this works really nicely with the tart and tropical fruitiness of the sea buckthorn berries

A fabulous berry in so many ways – full of Vitamin C, so sharp it can ceviche fish, and the seeds have Omega oils in them. We squeeze out the juice of the berries for using with ganaches and caramels, and then dry the pulp, including the seeds, to grind into the chocolate. No waste, and all those health giving omega oils go into the chocolate!

Ingredients: Cocoa solids 64% minimum: cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, dried sea buckthorn berries (6%), salt

Net wt: 50g

Best before end: 12/25