Ghirardelli Launches Milk Chocolate Line as Fancy as Dark Chocolate
Despite the dark chocolate snobbery that often rules the chocolate world, Ghirardelli is looking out for the shunned, stepped-on milk chocolate lovers. Understanding that the less sexy option still accounts for 80 percent of total chocolate sales in the U.S., the company recently launched a luxe milk chocolate line, and it's on another level than cheap Easter candy.
When Serious Eaters acquired a medley of the new flavors—regular milk, hazelnut, almond, crisped rice, and a milk/dark duet—the inner milk chocolate sympathizers in us came out. We all seemed to get so excited rooting for milk chocolate. "I like the way chocolate tastes when mixed with sugar and milk: sweet and creamy. This doesn't mean I like all milk chocolate, just that I would prefer a really good milk chocolate over a good dark chocolate. This falls in line with my general distaste for almost all things bitter though, including coffee and alcohol," said Robyn.
"Dark chocolate often tastes powerfully acidic to me, and is positively awful straight out of the fridge. Milk chocolate, on the other hand, melts so quickly on your tongue," added Michele. To me, milk chocolate was always the little kid choice and dark was for grown-ups. Only with age could you appreciate something will less sugar or milk, as with coffee or tea. But it's interesting to now see cacao percentages, nuanced ingredients, and classy packaging in a milk chocolate context.
Talk about a victory dance for the pro-milk chocolate community, and what better time to celebrate than Valentine's Day weekend.
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12 Comments:
I've never quite gotten used to dark chocolate so I'm really happy about these!
disbelief11 at 8:40PM on 02/13/09
i'm an unrepentent milk chocolate lover, and i don't care if it means that i have to give back my foodie card. i don't really like dark chocolate.
if the quality of the scharffenberger milk chocolate declines with the closing of the berkeley factory, i'll be very glad for the ghirardelli!
cybercita at 10:22PM on 02/13/09
What is the percentage of cacao in this chocolate? Hershey's runs around 12%, and I had a very good milk chocolate that was 40%...so I have some sort of guage
veggieout at 11:43PM on 02/13/09
Sorry, once I went dark, milk, no matter how good, doesn't taste like chocolate to me....
HeartofGlass at 10:08AM on 02/14/09
Not generally a sweet eater--maybe a few times a year I crave chocolate. However seeing those almond studded and hazelnut studded squares may just have me seeking these out. I'm a sucker for nuts.
dhorst at 6:47PM on 02/14/09
I love milk chocolate and I'm not afraid to say it.
Please don't make me leave.
cool2bars at 7:12PM on 02/14/09
I love milk chocolate and I'm not afraid to say it.
Please don't make me leave.
http://bakingandmistaking.blogspot.com
cool2bars at 7:17PM on 02/14/09
I have an extensive chocolate background, and having been afforded the opportunity to sample some of the best chocolate from around the globe, I still remain a milk chocolate connoisseur at heart. Granted, there are a few dark chocolates available that really impress me, but milk and "white" have always been my favorites. Funny though, when I make a chocolate cake, I always use espresso, coffee, natural cocoa, olive oil etc, to really amp up the chocolate factor.
Boscompb at 7:20PM on 02/14/09
Green and Blacks make an awesome milk chocolate bar that they call 'a darker shade of milk' which is really tasty without being bitter.
http://www.greenandblacks.com/
It's all organic, but unfortunately not all fair-trade.
NotAmerican at 2:40AM on 02/15/09
As a child, I loved only milk chocolate--hated dark. The "Special Dark" variety in the Hershey's Miniatures bag was always the last to go in our house! In adulthood, dark chocolate tasted better, less bitter than it did back then. I still like milk chocolate, but once I start eating it I can't stop, whereas I am safely satisfied with smaller amounts of the dark...I guess it's the higher sugar factor. My husband claims that milk chocolate, however fancy, tastes like scalded rancid milk.
soyviz at 11:56AM on 02/15/09
Holy Moly! I am going to run to the store now and grab these up! crispy rice! toasted almonds!
savorthethyme at 12:00PM on 02/15/09
Somebody gave me a heart shaped tin of these for VDay. They are mixed wrapped squares. The dark with white creamy mint center was really good. The solid milk chocolate was just ok. That's all I've tried so far and haven't looked to see what else is in there. Hoping for dark with caramel! I wouldn't go looking for the milk chocolate, but it will not go to waste, just to waist.
PerkyMac at 2:32PM on 02/15/09