Scottish tablet

Tablet is Scotland's own sugar sweet. It looks like fudge, but bite into it and the difference is clear: tablet is firmer, with a snap and a grainy texture.

What tablet is

Tablet, or taiblet in Scots, is a medium hard sugary sweet. It is usually made from sugar, condensed milk and butter, boiled to the soft ball stage and then allowed to crystallise. It is often flavoured with vanilla and sometimes has pieces of nut in it. Well made tablet is harder than fudge but not as hard as a boiled sweet.

A very old sweet

Tablet has a long history. According to F. Marian McNeill's book The Scots Kitchen, it is mentioned in The Household Book of Lady Grisell Baillie, in the early 18th century. The traditional recipe used just sugar and cream. Because cream tends to burn when it is boiled, more modern recipes swap it for condensed milk and butter. That is why tablet is sometimes called Swiss milk tablet, Swiss milk being an old name for condensed milk, or simply butter tablet.

Tablet and fudge

Tablet and fudge are close relations. The difference is texture: tablet is brittle and grainy, while fudge is much softer. In fact, communities in the Midlands and Cornwall made their own versions of tablet for centuries, and those sweets came to be called fudge. See fudge and what is the difference between fudge and tablet?

Homemade and shop bought

Traditional tablet is homemade. Shop bought tablet often uses fondant in place of the milk products, which gives a slightly less grainy texture and is said to be easier to make on a large scale. See how is Scottish tablet made?

More Scottish sweets

Scotland has a rich sweet tradition, from the sour boiled soor plooms of Galashiels to Edinburgh rock and Moffat toffee: see soor plooms, Edinburgh rock and Moffat toffee.

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