Definition and ingredients of milk chocolate

Chocolate defines as the homogenous combination of cocoa powder, cocoa butter with milk powders, sugars, and/or sweeteners and other additives. According to proportion of different ingredients used in preparation of chocolate, three main categories of chocolates are Dark, White and Milk chocolate.

Almost twenty years after the invention of the press in 1847, the first British factory to produce a plain eating chocolate was established in Bristol in the UK by Joseph Fry. The chocolate made by Fry was initially a plain block and it was only in 1875 that the first milk chocolate was made by Daniel Peter in Switzerland.

Milk chocolate is most important products of confectionary that are well-known for its consumer, and a precious ended product in entirely value-added chain in cacao.

According to the standard, milk chocolate shall contain, on a dry matter basis, not less than 25% cocoa solids (including a minimum of 2.5% fat-free cocoa solids) and a specified minimum of milk solids between 12% and 14% (including a minimum of milk fat between 2.5% and 3.5%).

Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. Milk chocolate is often used milk crumb and or milk powder. Recent studies reported that milk powder is being used at about 20% w/w in formulation, and have clear effect the sensory characteristics of the final product and processing behavior.

Milk powder is the major ingredient of milk chocolate and affects the sensory attributes of the chocolate and the rheological properties of chocolate fluid mass.
Definition and ingredients of milk chocolate

Chocolate recipes

The particular characteristics of any given chocolate processing depend upon:

• Origin of the bean
• Method of processing
• Method of obtaining the extra cocoa butter
• Source and treatment of the milk for milk chocolate
• Presence of minor components such as essential oils, etc.

During the hundred or so years that chocolate has existed as a food, different recipe traditions have developed in various parts of the world.

For example, milk chocolate in the United Kingdom is mainly made by a process that starts with liquid milk, whereas milk chocolate in Continental Europe is invariably made using milk powder.

Chocolate in the United States uses beans from South America; these have a different flavor from the West African beans that are mainly used in Europe.

Each of these recipe traditions is equally valid. Assertions occasionally seen in some of the snobbier magazines that chocolate from a particular source is “better” than that from another, because it contains more cocoa, is about as silly as it would be to claim that Austrian strudel is better than American apple pie because it contains more apples.

Nowadays, with the agreement on the completion of the internal market, we are moving towards a philosophy that recognizes that any wholesome food should be acceptable in the marketplace.

Provided that the product is adequately labeled, the consumer should be free to choose on the basis of cost and preference alone.
Chocolate recipes

What is couverture chocolate?

Chocolate and white chocolate to be used in candy making are designated ‘couverture’ chocolate. Couverture chocolate contains a relatively high proportion of cocoa solids and cocoa butter as compare with other ingredients.

The cocoa butter melts and dissipates at a low temperature, giving it a beautiful mouthfeel as well as giving shine, gloss and snap to chocolate.

The extra cocoa butter makes the melted couverture chocolate very fluid and easy to work with. Most professional chefs use couverture. It is the perfect chocolate to use for dipping truffles and candies and for molding because it makes a thin coating and it’s also great to use for baking.

Couverture chocolate must be tempered to stabilize the emulsification of cocoa solids and butterfat before it is used for dipping or molding.

Tempering gives chocolate a glossy sheen and allows it to set up quickly. Tempering process enables chocolate to be stores at room temperature for longer without loss of texture or flavor.
What is couverture chocolate?

Cocoa butter as food ingredient

Cocoa butter is used to make chocolate, as was well as some ointments, toiletries and pharmaceuticals. Cocoa butter also is an important ingredient for confectionery products, having a major influence on the organoleptic and physical properties.

More than 98% of cocoa butter is simple lipid. More than 95% of this is triacylglycerol. Free fatty acid values are reported to be 1.5% and the concentration of mono- and diacylglycerol is about 2% of the simple lipid fraction.

Cocoa butter contains a high proportion of saturated fats, derived from stearic and palmitic acids. It exhibits a very complex crystallization system as a result of the different glycerides present. It is polymorphic, which means it will crystallize in several different forms according to how the liquid fat is solidified.

It generally acts as the continuous phase in chocolate, supporting the nonfat ingredients.

Thus, the properties of the chocolate – relatively hard and brittle at room temperature yet melting rapidly in the mouth – are greatly dependent on the properties of the cocoa butter itself. It is light yellow fat, exhibiting a distinct brittle fracture below 20 °C, a fairly sharp complete melting point about 35 °C with an incipient fusion or softening around 30-32 °C.
Cocoa butter as food ingredient

Ingredients in chocolate milk bar

Chocolate liquor, pure fluid whole milk and powdered sugar are the basic ingredients for milk chocolate bar.

The proportion of cocoa liquor in the final product determines how dark the chocolate is. From a nutritional standpoint the darker a chocolate is, the better because it contains a higher percentage of cocoa.

To prepare chocolate bars, the cocoa powder is mixed with other ingredients (sugar, milk, nougat, vanilla flavor); the mixture is refined and freed from lumps; it is then ripened at different temperatures.

Vanilla flavor is the most common basic flavoring to be mixed into the chocolate mixture. It is obtained by using vanillin.

The mixture is then passed through a series of large steel roll refiners, where an intense shearing and rubbing action reduces the mass to a uniform paste that is so smooth that the coarse particles will be less than 50 u in size.

Chocolate bars and candy can be filled with flavored fondants, liquor-soaked fruit, dry, roasted, or candied, liquors, etc. Milk chocolate is creamy but the added milk also adds calories and fat.
Ingredients in chocolate milk bar

What is milk chocolate?

Milk chocolate is made with milk powder or condensed milk and has a higher amount of sugar than dark chocolate. It also contains vanilla and lecithin.

Milk chocolate is a lighter shade because it has milk in it. It also tastes sweeter.

Milk chocolate is increasingly popular, and milk powder is still used in great quantities in the manufacture of this chocolate.

Milk ingredients are critical in delivering the highly desired properties and taste profile to consumers.

In the United States, milk chocolate must contain a minimum of 10% chocolate liquor and 12% milk solids. In Europe, milk chocolate must contain 30% chocolate liquor and 18% dry milk solids, as well as 26% total fat.

The first use of milk in a solid chocolate product is commonly attributed to Daniel Peter in 1875. He is the one of the first person to make milk chocolate.

Before this, combination of milk and cocoa solids were consumed as beverages during the eighteenth century.
What is milk chocolate?