First forays into the darker side of milk chocolate

This unique milk chocolate boasts a massive 51% cocoa. Darkside Milk Chocolate; @montezumas.co.uk


Powered by Guardian.co.ukThis article titled “First forays into the darker side of milk chocolate” was written by Annalisa Barbieri, for The Observer on Sunday 22nd March 2020 09.00 UTC

Darker milks are my perfect middle ground in chocolate: neither too sweet, nor too austere.

My first real introduction to it was Montezuma’s Dark Side 51% cocoa (£2.59/100g); it remains a favourite, but is not – for some unfathomable reason – easy to find. At Christmas, I worked out that John Lewis in Oxford Street sold it downstairs, by the stationery, and I would stock up. Otherwise it was ordered online or, occasionally, I would find it in a little shop somewhere unexpected.

This won’t be my only foray into dark milks – a huge and popular arena – but for now here are some others I’ve tried and liked.

Tesco dipped a foot into darker milks, successfully, a few years ago, then retracted. But three other supermarkets excel with single-origin dark milks: Asda’s Peruvian 43% milk, (£1.40/100g) (thanks to reader Francesca, who recommended it) which has a creamy, toffee flavour; Marks & Spencer’s Dominican Republic 46% (£2.10/100g) which is as close to buttery chocolate as I’ve ever found. And, for a good priced, tasty but not difficult darker milk (also chunkier pieces!) Waitrose’s No.1 49% Dominican Republic, (£2/100g) is unbeatable.

At the moment (it’s an EU directive so liable to change; #Brexit), milk chocolate has to contain at least 14% milk solids. So you can still go pretty dark, but still be milk. Chocolat Madagascar’s darkest milk is a whopping 80% cocoa (£5.95/85g), but still a milk chocolate: if high-cocoa chocolate has always scared you, see what the addition of milk does for you.

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