Scotland

Food and drink of Scotland: a regional guide

Though not a bad place to start, there’s more to Scottish victuals than Scotch whisky and haggis. This guide highlights some the people and businesses who have built on the foundations of tradition, sourcing the land’s best produce, grafting, innovating, and working together to purvey some of the world’s finest food and drink.

Made with sustainably sourced teas, Raw Culture hopinfused kombucha is low in sugar, gluten free, contains high levels of B vitamins and antioxidants and is rich in gluconic and acetic acid. The four flavours, Original, Hopical Punch, Mangosaurus and Lemondrop are priced at £14.45 per case of 12x330ml for trade, with an RRP of £2.75 per can.

rawculture.co.uk

Beyond the the Balmoral

The North East of Scotland is as rich in history as it counts famous castles. It is also home to many malt whisky distilleries along Moray’s River Spay, is the birthplace of Finnan Haddie, and the stomping ground of many of the country’s artisan food and drink producers.

The Sutherlands of Portsoy smokehouse has been operating on the North East coast of Scotland for over 100 years, but has lately taken a more innovative approach. As well as a distinctive range of smoked salmon, it has tried-and-tested a number of alternative smoking methodsand fish. A notable example is the Smoked Steelhead Trout – winner of a 3-star Great Taste Award in 2022 - where the trout is hand salted then smoked over scotch whisky barrel shavings. The cold smoked line is available to trade for £2.30 per 100g, with an RRP of £2.99 for 100g. The hot smoked salmon costs £17.75 per kilo, RRP £23.10.

sutherlandsofportsoy.scot

In 2017, Susan Yule started Hungry Squirrel in her home kitchen in Aberdeen. Today, the company operates in commercial premises, producing a range of 10 nut butters. Bestsellers include the Positively Peanut butter, made with South American peanuts; Maple Pecan; Hazelnut & Cacao; and Crunchy ABC Mix, made with almonds, brazil nuts, cashews and sea salt. All are available in 40g & 150g glass jars for an average cost of £3.50 per 150g, RRP £5.

feedthesquirrel.co.uk

100 year-old Maclean’s Highland Bakery has been selling traditional Scottish fare for the past four generations, using local, organic produce. It now exports a range of shortbreads, sweet biscuits and oatcakes from its production facility in Forres. Its latest ranges reflect a desire to operate responsibly: the Spent Grain Crackers, for instance, were developed in partnership with the local Windswept brewery and Zero Waste Scotland.

macleansbakery.com

The Roehill Springs Distillery is based in a repurposed building on a third-generation family-run farm near Keith. Premium small-batch gins are created using locally foraged botanicals and the farm’s natural spring water.

Gin No 5, Roehill’s flagship classic London Dry Gin has received several awards, while the Navy Strength was voted Scotland’s Best London Dry in The World Gin Awards 2022. The Honeyberry gin, made with copious amounts of Scottish honeyberries and no added sugar, sweetener, colours or flavours, received a Bronze in the SRFD awards.

roehillsprings.com

Delicatessen

Ullapool

The West Coast

Delicatessen is located on one of the northernmost points of the Scottish Highlands, in a small village called Ullapool on the shore of Loch Broom. The shop supplies the local and tourist trade with a selection of artisan produce – the highlights of which include farmhouse cheeses, honey, black pudding, venison salami and freshly-baked bread.

It also stocks a number of Continental items, as well as operating a busy foodservice outlet where it serves barista coffee, sandwiches, pies, salads, soups and cakes to eat in or takeaway.

westcoastdeli.co.uk

Based in the village of New Deer in the Aberdeenshire countryside, The Kindness Bakery has redesigned the packaging of its Oatcake Bite range, across all six core flavours: Cheese & Chive, Chilli, Mature Cheddar, Ploughman’s Lunch, Cracked Pepper and Original. Founded in 1947 by the current owner’s great-grandfather, Mr Kindness, the bakery sources locally grown and milled oats, mature Lockerbie Cheddar and uses rapeseed oil rather than palm.

thekindnessbakery.co.uk