Day: July 27, 2019

Although this sweet, brown food preparation of roasted and ground cacao seeds have had their earliest evidence of use traced to the Olmecs of Mexico (1900 BC); adding milk to this creation has been a much later development, believed to be around the 19th century.

“Anything is good if it’s made of chocolate.” Jo Brand

Around the mid-17th century, milk was sometimes used as an addition to chocolate beverages. With drinking choclate gaining momentum and the Cadbury brothers (1820) had widely marketed it. In order to tackle the flood of chocolate that was entering the UK mainly from Switzerland and France, Fry and Son (1847) started to make tablets of roasted and ground beans, mixed with sugar which were sold as eating chocolate. With expansion of the new “eating chocolate market”, the Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter (1876) working in conjunction with Nestlé, (who had a creamery was next door to his factory), formulated the first commercial milk chocolate recipe. Only a minuscule amount of moisture was used “condensed” milk. The final major manufacturing technique to produce the “modern milk” chocolate was developed three years later by Lindt (1879). He had discovered that when choclate was repeatedly rolled from side to side (in a stone vessel) a much smooth,er textured product could be made. This process, known as “conching” can go on for as long as five days. With the invention of the “conching machine”, the chocolate industry had grown further. Milk chocolate today has 20% cocoa solids as per the British regulations, while for the rest of the European Union, the minimum is 25%. In the US, concentration of chocolate liquor of ten percent is required.

Though proof of later historical details are present, there still exists some confusion as to the first use of milk in chocolate. As legend goes, it was believed that Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum and physician to Queen Anne and George II, had the brainwave of adding milk to drinking chocolate (1672). While on his travels to Jamaica, Sir Hans had recognized the therapeutic qualities of chocolate. On seeing malnourished, sickly babies being revived after being given a mixture of cocoa, spices and water; it was thought that he had introduced milk with cocoa, recognizing that milk had complimentary nutritional qualities. This recipe was regarded as purely for medicinal purposes.

“There are four basic food groups: plain chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate.” Jill Shalvis

While chocolate is for something special, the making of “milk chocolate” is a labour of love, with three main stages. First is to blend milk ingredients and sugar and gently mix them with chocolate liquor and cocoa powder. Secondly is to dry the mixture where it becomes a milk chocolate crumbly powder. The final stage is where milk chocolate gets its smooth and velvety taste and texture is by ‘conching’, which involves carefully mixing all the ingredients together. The traditional long conching process guarantees a rich, subtle flavour development. While this process starts at a low temperature; as the mixing starts, the temperature is raised very slowly to help it dry and develop new delicate flavours from the heat. Delicate care is taken to gently mix for long enough to full develop the chocolate flavours, to get the most silky way possible.

Besides being a ready indulgence for any time, milk chocolate when melted can add the exotic flavours of sweet and bitter, to the regular dessert, be it from ice cream and coffee, marshmallows, cupcakes, mousse, wafer biscuits or even a chocolate pizza; the list is endless. Little wonder then, that National Milk Chocolate Day (July 28th) is being celebrated by connoisseurs of chocolate, chocolatiers as well as chocolate lovers, both young and the old worldwide. Just like sugar, salt and spice, a little bit of “milk choclate” goes a long way.