What is milk chocolate?

Milk chocolate is not defined by:

• percentage

• sweetness

• colour

What is milk chocolate made from?

Image by @inmasantiago

Milk chocolate is chocolate with milk powder incorporated as a main ingredient. The basis for a milk chocolate would contain cocoa beans, sugar, milk powder, and most often cocoa butter. These ingredients are ground up together in the chocolate refiner into a smooth silky chocolate. Most commercial milk chocolate also contains vanilla or vanilla flavouring and also often contains lecithin.

Milk chocolate & percentage

Most commercial milk chocolate contains somewhere around 30-35% cocoa bean. However, higher quality milk chocolates contain closer to 40-50% milk chocolate, making them less sweet. In the fine craft chocolate world, there is also what is called “dark milk chocolate” which often contains 60-65% cocoa bean. This is about double the amount of cocoa bean found in most commercial milk chocolate, and looks more like dark chocolate than the light colour of commercial milk chocolate. These dark milk chocolates have a more robust flavour, are not too sweet at all, and still have that creamy milk chocolate essence.

Who invented milk chocolate?

Milk chocolate was invented by Switzerland in the 19th Century by a chocolate maker called Daniel Peters and a chemist known as Henri Nestle. Since chocolate is a fat based product, water-based ingredients (such as fresh milk) cannot be added to the ground up cocoa nibs. Therefore, Daniel Peter joined forces with nestle to add his powdered milk into the chocolate, thus inventing the first milk chocolate bar.

Single Origin Milk Chocolate

Some chocolate enthusiasts scoff at the idea of milk chocolate. A part of me understands that. There is no chocolate more satisfying than an incredible fine single-origin dark chocolate. Many believe the addition of the milk powder distracts from the fine flavour of the cocoa bean. Although there is some truth to this, a fine single-origin milk is like a very well made latte or cappuccino made with fine espresso. The quality of the fine espresso still shines through the milk. In the same way, the fine cocoa bean still shines through as it marries together with the milk in milk chocolate. Below are some exquisite fair-trade single-origin milk chocolate bars sold here at Bean To Bar World.