The name "chocolate" refers to a wide range of products that are derived from the cocoa, or cacao, bean and then mixed with fat, such as cocoa butter, which is also extracted from the cocoa bean, and sugar.
Chocolate comes in a number of different classifications, depending on the proportion of cocoa used to make it. This classification is often regulated by governments, and can vary from region to region - "milk chocolate" can refer to a different product in the United Kingdom and Ireland than it does in the rest of the European Union, or the United States, falling between the two definitions.
Milk chocolate is chocolate that has been sweetened with, not surprisingly, milk. This milk can be in multiple forms, such as powder, liquid or condensed. Solid milk chocolate was first made by the Swiss Daniel Proctor using condensed milk in the 1870s, although it had been available as a drink for some years prior to that.
In the US. milk chocolate is a product that contains at least 10% chocolate liquor, which contains both cocoa solids and cocoa butter in roughly even proportion, and at least 12% milk solids. In the UK, milk chocolate must contain cocoa solids of at least 20%, which in the rest of Europe would be called family milk chocolate, as European milk chocolate must have at least 25% cocoa solids. Family milk chocolate has 23% milk solids, whilst milk chocolate has 14%.
The differences in cocoa to be found in chocolate from different countries and regions show why European chocolate is often more highly prized - it simply contains more chocolate. Indulge with some good quality European milk chocolate.
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