# I'm serving chocolate do you prefer Milk chocolate or Dark? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** soda-softdrinks\ **Created:** [June 7, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400 "2017-06-07T23:16:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/41 "2017-06-08T21:12:56Z")
Most chocolate is good (including Hershey’s, which does have an acidic component to its flavor, but it’s not stomach acid), and there’s almost no chocolate I’ll turn down. But given the choice, I’ll take the dark ten times out of ten. And since someone also asked about coffee, I can’t stand the stuff. I do however enjoy vegetables that are often considered bitter, like Brussels sprouts and broccoli. And I can taste the soapy flavor in cilantro, but still enjoy it in moderation. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/42 "2017-06-08T21:31:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > which does have an acidic component to its flavor, but it’s not stomach acid Depends on what you mean by “stomach acid” (the comparison in this thread is to vomit, not stomach acid.) The acidic component in Hershey’s milk chocolate is butyric acid, which, along with various fermented dairy products (not just Hershey’s chocolate, but various cheeses, too), is what gives vomit its distinctive smell and flavor. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/43 "2017-06-08T22:36:58Z")
How dark is the dark chocolate? How milky is the milk chocolate? Both are good in the right degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/44 "2017-06-08T22:39:54Z")
Once you go dark, you don’t go bark. mmm ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/45 "2017-06-09T00:00:24Z")
Probably just me (haven’t read the responses), but I think milk chocolate is vile. To me, it always tastes a bit like off milk. Of course, I’ve only had Hershey’s milk chocolate, and that so put me off of chocolate that I was probably in my 20’s before I discovered dark chocolate and a taste for it, and I haven’t really tried any milk chocolate of any other brands, so maybe it’s just Hershey’s… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/46 "2017-06-09T00:09:32Z")
> [@XT](#): > > I haven’t really tried any milk chocolate of any other brands, so maybe it’s just Hershey’s… Given your description, yes, that flavor is mostly a Hershey’s thing. There are apparently other chocolate companies that add that flavor into the chocolate, but it’s not the usual thing. From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey_bar): > [@](#): > > The Hershey Process milk chocolate used in these bars uses fresh milk delivered directly from local farms. The process was developed by Milton Hershey and produced the first mass-produced chocolate in the United States. As a result, the Hershey flavor is widely recognized in the United States, but less so internationally, especially in areas where European chocolates are more widely available. **The process is a company and trade secret, but experts speculate that the milk is partially lipolyzed, producing butyric acid, which stabilizes the milk from further fermentation. This flavor gives the product a particular sour, “tangy” taste which the US public has come to associate with the taste of chocolate, to the point that other manufacturers often add butyric acid to their milk chocolates.[1] The American bar’s taste profile was not as popular with the Canadian public, leading Hershey to introduce a reformulated Canadian bar in 1983.**[2] Emphasis mine. So it sounds like Canadian Hershey’s doesn’t have this flavor. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/47 "2017-06-09T01:01:53Z")
I have yet to meet any chocolate varietal that I could not embrace, but if forced to choose, I would go for the dark with a little bit of milk. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/48 "2017-06-09T01:16:16Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Once you go dark, you don’t go bark. I should hope not. Chocolate is bad for dogs. ---
**Author:** ![Private\_Bin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@Private\_Bin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Private_Bin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/49 "2017-06-09T10:57:32Z")
Is milk chocolate the same as white chocolate? If so, then anyone who prefers that should be hunted down by blade runners. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/50 "2017-06-09T11:03:09Z")
> [@Private\_Bin](#): > > Is milk chocolate the same as white chocolate Yes, in much the same was as a dog is the same as a cat. ---
**Author:** ![Private\_Bin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@Private\_Bin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Private_Bin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/51 "2017-06-09T12:09:20Z")
Well, hell, I don’t know! If it’s dark chocolate, it’s dark chocolate. Otherwise it’s just chocolate. Or the detested white chocolate. I don’t appreciate this ‘milk chocolate’ addition. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/52 "2017-06-09T12:57:14Z")
So-called “white chocolate” is just cocoa butter and sugar, with no cocoa at all in it. It isn’t actually chocolate, and exists mostly just as a sugar-delivery mechanism. Milk chocolate is chocolate (i.e., it has both cocoa butter and cocoa), but it has less cocoa than dark chocolate, and it also has milk added in some form. In the US, at least, this is usually what you get if something is described as being just “chocolate”, without any qualifiers, like a Hershey’s kiss. Dark chocolate doesn’t have the milk, and has a higher proportion of cocoa, which gives it a more bitter flavor. Some people like this bitter flavor, and those who like it tend to like it a lot, but more people seem to find it to be too much. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/53 "2017-06-09T13:07:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > … Dark chocolate doesn’t have the milk, and has a higher proportion of cocoa, which gives it a more bitter flavor. Some people like this bitter flavor, and those who like it tend to like it a lot, but more people seem to find it to be too much. I would have thought that that last statement was correct and that my preference for the dark stuff was less common but our unscientific poll surprisingly is running overwhelmingly to the dark side. (And currently roughly 40% of those who prefer dark are fine with some milk chocolate in there too.) At least among Dopers who bother to answer this poll your statement is false. Which again, surprises. Also as one data point - I like the dark, do not like milk chocolate much, but do not _love_ it. A small square, maybe with a few dried cherries, is enough; much more gets old fast. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/54 "2017-06-09T13:41:51Z")
There are way too many selection effects going on here for me to give any credence to the results of the poll in this thread. More telling, I think, is the quantities of each actually produced and sold. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/55 "2017-06-09T14:02:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There are way too many selection effects going on here for me to give any credence to the results of the poll in this thread. More telling, I think, is the quantities of each actually produced and sold. As with many things involving the 'dope it seems the general public has a different opinion. 😛 I think most kids prefer milk chocolate to dark, and my WAG is that this is why a lot more milk chocolate is made and sold than dark. But maybe it’s something else. As I said, personally I think milk chocolate is vile, but I really love dark chocolate, especially the more bitter varieties with a larger percentage of cocoa. I also like the kind flavored with chili when I can get it. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/56 "2017-06-09T14:34:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There are way too many selection effects going on here for me to give any credence to the results of the poll in this thread. More telling, I think, is the quantities of each actually produced and sold. OF COURSE a poll here is of little value as a representation of the world, but volume sold is not either. To use what I had already volunteered as an illustration: dark chocolate is more often consumed in modest amounts and milk chocolate is more bingeable. Someone who prefers dark might have one medium bar last a long time; someone who prefers milk may go through a bar or two at a time. Halloween is the biggest sale season for chocolate (followed by Easter) and the chocolate bought then is not adults deciding what they want to splurge because it what they prefer on but on what is affordable and something the kids prefer. (As **XT** points out.) The more subtly sweet balanced with complex bitter notes is not what the little ones crave. Not even sure how much of that holiday kiddie chocolate even ends up getting eaten. My suspicion is that the Dope has a selection bias (older, and in CS more often foodies) but still the nearly two to one preference is pretty eyebrow raising. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/57 "2017-06-09T17:14:09Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > OF COURSE a poll here is of little value as a representation of the world, but volume sold is not either. To use what I had already volunteered as an illustration: dark chocolate is more often consumed in modest amounts and milk chocolate is more bingeable. Someone who prefers dark might have one medium bar last a long time; someone who prefers milk may go through a bar or two at a time. Halloween is the biggest sale season for chocolate (followed by Easter) and the chocolate bought then is not adults deciding what they want to splurge because it what they prefer on but on what is affordable and something the kids prefer. (As **XT** points out.) The more subtly sweet balanced with complex bitter notes is not what the little ones crave. Not even sure how much of that holiday kiddie chocolate even ends up getting eaten. > > My suspicion is that the Dope has a selection bias (older, and in CS more often foodies) but still the nearly two to one preference is pretty eyebrow raising. Right. Milk chocolate costs less and is abundant here in the US. Kids grow up with it, as I did. I didn’t realize how bad milk chocolate tasted until I’d had good dark chocolate and then tried to go back (although I knew something was off with it, but I had no frame of reference). Several people from Europe have told me how they find milk chocolate disgusting and had rarely or never encountered outside the US. Dark has become much more available now, and also in sweeter versions, and as more people try it out the general tide will shift. Let us all pray that one day American children will be ruining their teeth and starting down the road to obesity with dark chocolate instead of it’s ill-bred spoiled cousin. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/58 "2017-06-09T17:30:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Not even sure how much of that holiday kiddie chocolate even ends up getting eaten. Neither my sister nor I was the sort to binge on a large chunk of chocolate all at once, with the result that we each ended up getting the same chocolate bunny in our Easter baskets five years in a row. Eventually Mom just crumbled them up and used them the next time she made chocolate chip cookies. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/59 "2017-06-09T20:26:27Z")
I see the dark chocolate lovers have spoken. 😃 I never understood why my mom doesn’t like dark chocolate. I started eating dark chocolate in my late twenties. Most of the popular candy bars like Snickers, Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, Almond Joy, and Kit Kats are covered in milk chocolate. Mounds is the rare dark chocolate candy bar. I’d guess they use milk chocolate because it’s cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400/60 "2017-06-09T21:41:56Z")
I got Gallbladder issues. No chocolate for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-serving-chocolate-do-you-prefer-milk-chocolate-or-dark/788400.md?page=4)