I like chocolate, especially milk chocolate, but I don’t like the overly sweet taste of it. I’ve been looking for less sweet varieties, but all I was able to find is sugar-reduced (or sugar-free) dark chocolates. Some claim to be sugar-free milk chocolates, but what it usually means is that they use some other sweetener, staying at least as sweet, essentially defeating the purpose of being sugar-free.
Is sugar required to manufacture milk chocolate in some way? Or is just the market that limited that nobody is producing it?
In: Chemistry
I was a chocolatier for a decade so maybe I can help answer your question.
You can find sweeter varieties of dark chocolate if you look into more “boutique” chocolate makers.
You can tell by looking at the percentage of cocoa solids which should be labeled somewhere on the packaging. I’ve worked with dark chocolate getting into the 30% range which is in the same range as milk chocolate, it does exist.
I’m pretty sure TCHO and almost certain Guittard (fun fact: the oldest family owned Chocolate producer in the US) carry varieties of “mild dark chocolate”.
Bear in mind that there will still be some amount of bitterness, as milk works to blunt that. It helps to think of chocolate like a cup of coffee, a little milk and sugar goes further than sugar alone in changing the basic taste. It’s also the milk that primarily lightens chocolate in the process of chocolate making.
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