Milk chocolate that isn't horribly sweet?

April 28, 2016 12:39 PM

I love milk chocolate, but all the milk chocolate I can find is too sweet. Does anyone know of a brand, available in the US, that's delicious and rich and fatty but not so sweet?

It doesn't have to be fancy. I appreciate dark chocolate as well, but that's a separate taste -- I specifically want the creamy tastiness of milk chocolate, in a bar form. Or even white chocolate, which has all the fattiness I want but still is too sweet even when I compare nutritional labels and buy the one with the least sugar.

posted by The corpse in the library to Food & Drink (17 answers total)

Haha, oh god. I read that as Chocolate milk; thanks dyslexia! I would call the folks over at The Meadow and see what they suggest. They're pretty fantastic in this regard.
posted by furnace.heart at 12:48 PM on April 28, 2016 [9 favorites]

Scharffen Berger 41% scratches exactly the same itch for me: milk chocolate without the cloying sweetness.
posted by the return of the thin white sock at 12:50 PM on April 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Try Ritter. They sell it nice and cheap at Trader Joe's. Probably my favorite low end chocolate bar. Their dark also pretty good and somwhere in between real dark chocolate and milk chocolate in taste.
posted by srboisvert at 1:19 PM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

The milk chocolate bar from Endangered Species brand is really good and not too sweet imo. Definitely fits your "delicious and rich" checkboxes for sure.
posted by purple_bird at 1:19 PM on April 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

I really like the Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate (50% cocoa, which is relatively light for a dark chocolate these days) bars as a nice in between milk and dark chocolate. They are the plummy purple ones!
posted by maryr at 2:03 PM on April 28, 2016

I like Theo Salted Almond 45% Milk Chocolate for this purpose. I think they have a regular milk chocolate that's also a high 45% cacao but I haven't tried it.
posted by needs more cowbell at 2:18 PM on April 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Ritter is too sweet, if that helps narrow the field. Theo's and Endangered Species' milk chocolates are closer to what I'm looking for but not there yet. (I haven't tried Scharffen Berger's but will do so ASAP.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:29 PM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Do you like Lindt? I think their milk chocolate is really smooth and not too sweet myself.
posted by bearwife at 2:33 PM on April 28, 2016

I have a limited sweet tooth and I love Tcho's 53% milk chocolate bar for this. Rich texture and good chocolate flavor without the toothache-inducing sugariness of most milk chocolates.

http://www.tcho.com/shop/chocolate/bars/milk-chocolate-53-percent-cacao-70g-bar-22102
posted by 4rtemis at 2:41 PM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oh, and Hotel Chocolat says their Supermilk is lower in sugar. Callebaut has in the past also formulated a low sugar milk chocolate which may be the "full milky taste" variety advertised here.
posted by bearwife at 2:43 PM on April 28, 2016

Try Aldi. Its Moser-Roth brand is good and has 35% and 60% cocoa solid bars in the range.
posted by essexjan at 5:06 PM on April 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Personally, I have started buying the Callebaut bars at Whole Foods (available in 60%, 70%, 100%, and others) and melt a little of the strength I want in the microwave. Then I stir in a little milk to get a loose paste, and slowly add more milk/cream. I add cocoa powder if I want something stronger, during the heating phase/paste phases.
Since doing this, I find myself satisfied with a much smaller portion, and store bought just tastes wayyy too sweet.

Pro level: add some raspberry syrup. Yum!
posted by troytroy at 6:06 PM on April 28, 2016

A few favorites:

Bonnat Surabaya 65% milk chocolate

Fruition dark milk with fleur de sel

Lonohana dark coconut milk chocolate

These are all pretty expensive but SO GOOD. Somebody please make an affordable dark milk chocolate!
posted by insoluble uncertainty at 9:31 PM on April 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

It might be slightly dark for you, but I love Alter Eco Velvet, which is dark chocolate with just a hint of milk added for richness/creaminess. Reasonably affordable too!
posted by veery at 6:34 AM on April 29, 2016

I have a bar in my desk at work called TCHO SeriousMilk Milk Chocolate "Cacao" Lush and Fudgy. Label says 53% Cacao Organic & Fair Trade. I'm fairly certain I bought it at Mariano's (so an upscale grocery). It's delicious, and may very well be what you're looking for.

On preview, what 4rtemis said.
posted by terilou at 10:32 AM on April 29, 2016

The rise of awesome milk chocolate
posted by lalochezia at 12:00 PM on April 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Have you tried Dove DARK chocolate? It's actually super creamy for a dark chocolate (thanks to added milk fat I presume).
posted by OCDan at 9:44 PM on April 29, 2016