Milk chocolate legislation

Did you know there is legislation defining what is or isn't milk chocolate? How much cocoa do you actually need to make milk chocolate?

Although cocoa and milk have been drunk together since the 1600s, milk chocolate in its solid form is a more modern invention. Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter created the first solid milk chocolate bar in 1876 and other manufacturers were quick to follow his lead, Frys, Terrys, Bournville, Cadburys etc. Did you know Lindt's smooth chocolate was actually a happy accident..... the factory workers left the machine running over the weekend!

How much cocoa do you need to make milk chocolate?

Milk chocolate is generally made out of cocoa, sugar, milk solids and an emulsifier. However, cocoa is an expensive ingredient, and it’s cheaper to use artificial flavourings and colours to emulate the milk chocolate taste while using a very small percentage of cocoa powder. That’s why, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) introduced a minimum cocoa percentage in 2003 to be able to label a product “milk chocolate.”

In the UK, milk chocolate can only be called milk chocolate if it has a minimum of 20% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids. In the EU, however, the minimum percentage of cocoa for milk chocolate is 25%, although UK-style 20-24% cocoa milk chocolate like Cadburys Dairy Milk can be sold on the continent as long as it is labelled “family milk chocolate.” In the United States, the required amount of cocoa solids is just 10%.

The taste of mass produced chocolate has definitely changed over the past few years and if you taste test mass produced lower quality chocolate against higher quality, higher % you really can taste the difference.

How much cocoa is in my milk chocolate?

Almost all chocolate in the UK has to designate the amount of cocoa solids on the label of the chocolate. Generally, the higher the cocoa content, the better the quality of the chocolate, but make sure you check to see if they have any artificial colours or flavours that could mean the cacao beans aren’t of a good quality. Some brands use large amounts of sugar in order to dull the flavour of poor quality cocoa, so if the sugar levels are extremely high, then this could be an indicator that you should choose a different chocolate.

About my chocolate? 

I use the finest Belgiun milk chocolate which is 33.6% and you can definitely taste the difference between the chocolate I produce and mass produced chocolate. All of my chocolate products are made by hand, wrapped and labelled by hand...... my hands! Everything is made in small batches with a huge amount of love and passion.