How Much Milk Is In Milk Chocolate?

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Milk chocolate is the undisputed favorite among consumers, striking a balance of flavor and texture that places it perfectly between white and dark chocolate. And while the term "milk chocolate" is in part a way to differentiate it from other offerings, it does contain dairy.

You may picture brands pouring fresh milk directly into processed cocoa, but more often than not chocolate is made with powdered milk, also known as milk solids. This results in a creamy taste and texture. The other components are cocoa solids (for the chocolate flavor), cocoa butter for the texture, and, of course, sugar.

In the USA, milk chocolate must contain a minimum of 12% milk solids by weight. There is no upper limit on how much milk is included, but brands do need to include a minimum of 10% total cocoa mass (solids and butter) in order for the product to be labelled as chocolate. This is in contrast to white chocolate, which doesn't contain any cocoa solids, but must contain a minimum of 14% milk solids and 20% cocoa butter. In the USA, the term "dark chocolate" isn't strictly defined by any particular standards, but anything labelled bittersweet chocolate needs to contain at least 35% cocoa solids and less than 12% milk solids.

What about non-dairy milk chocolate?

If you want that creamy milk chocolate taste but need to avoid dairy, there are plenty of options on the market. You just need to know what you're looking for and how it might be labeled. The trouble with the term "milk chocolate" is that until 2023, the FDA ruled that the word "milk" would refer only to dairy. Although the definition has now changed to include different types of plant-based milk, many brands have maintained a creative approach to labeling.

That's why you'll see offerings like Lovo's Hazelnutmilk Chocolate or Lindt's OatMilk option. By running the words together it prevents confusion with, say, hazelnut flavored milk chocolate of the dairy variety. Other brands such as Reese's avoid the word "milk" altogether, instead adding "plant-based" to the product name. You also find that different plant-based chocolates use entire ground nuts or grains rather than the strained milk alternative alone.

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