Scottish Tablet

Posted on by Stephen Edwards

Alloa, Scotland, Buckie, Scotland, and Wemyss Bay, Scotland

When a traveler has a sweet tooth, they find themselves trying local goods to see if any match the sweets they know and love back home. Wanting to try something new when we were in our first grocery store in Alloa, I decided to go for Scottish Tablet. I didn’t know that a simple try from me would become one of my most memorable tastes from Scotland.

Here is the packaging from the Aldi Tablet. I would have stocked up on this tablet because #1 it was excellent quality and #2 it was the best-priced tablet that I found throughout the country. The tablet was sold in many tourist shops, but at an elevated price that did not justify the difference. When someone wants to buy a local taste, they are better off buying that taste from the same locations where locals shop.

Scottish Tablet has a fairly simple recipe: sugar, whole milk, butter, condensed milk, and maybe a hint of vanilla or whisky. Tablet is most often compared to fudge, but the consistency between the two is different. Fudge tends to be smooth, but tablet has more of a sandy texture that will crumble when broken and will dissolve while eating.

Scottish tablet breaks off much more easily than fudge, and when consumed, it will dissolve much more easily. This was about the extent that I could eat at a time, as time was needed between each bite.

Scottish Tablet is incredibly sweet. It is only possible to eat a small amount of tablet at a time. I ended up keeping a little in my driver’s side door, and it was a great pick-me-up when needed while driving around the country. Overall, I tried the tablet in three locations: the first from an Aldi in Alloa, the second, which was homemade from a service station in Northern Scotland, and the third, name-brand Mrs. Tilley’s, which has been made in small batches since 1997. All three were excellent, and I’m glad to have tried this traditional Scottish treat. Just know that a little tablet goes a long way when addressing a sweet tooth.