Food Bloggers of Canada recently published an article of mine on dark-milk chocolate - a category of chocolate that continually fascinates me: http://www.foodbloggersofcanada.com/2015/06/dark-milk-chocolate-a-new-chocolate-category-to-embrace/ This is a bit Canadian-focused, but still relevant to what's been happening the last few years with this trend.

In conjunction with the article, I published a list of dark-milk bars here: http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2015/06/the-ultimate-list-of-dark-milk.html

If you know of others that are amazing or have great potential - let me know!  (or....feel free to send samples as well )

Lisabeth:

I had my first dark-milk many years ago, one of the Slitti Latte-Nero family (they come in a variety of percentages) and I was immediately hooked. Dark milks are my favorite category of chocolates. The flavor intensity of a dark chocolate, the creaminess of a milk chocolate, and they're less sweet than a dark chocolate from the same bean/roast would be because lactose is less sweet than sucrose. I eat a lot of single-origin, two-ingredient chocolate, which requires attention. When I am looking for something to simply enjoy, dark-milks are the first place I think to reach.

People who know my history know my connection to Bonnat so when they introduced the 3, 65% dark-milks I immediately started using them as a tasting flight.

Your list is missing the 49% Felchlin Creole, a great offering from one of the best  small chocolate makers - if not the best - in Switzerland.

I made my first dark milk a couple of months ago and it was great. The milk adds some richness. Several people that had it thought it was my best ever. I think they had never had a dark milk before or maybe they just wanted more free chocolate from me.  I've only made a 55% dark milk. I'm going to make some higher percentage dark milk for my next batch.

Thanks for your comments Clay! I have not had much experience with Felchlin, given the remote location that I have been living in for the last 7 years (I occasionally make it off this island, but 'occasionally' is the emphasized word )  I just began my head-first dive into chocolate while I was in France 10 years ago, but wish I had known more when I had access to Europe back then! Sigh. But thanks to your list suggestion, I just realized that one of my regular distributors sells Felchlin!  I will be asking them about it today.

It is interesting that dark milk chocolate has been around for quite a while, but truly is trending today. Europeans have always understood that rich taste and sweet-and-savoury combinations offer much more enjoyable taste experiences, but here in North America we have finally come around.  A whole lot is changing thanks to the rapid development of the bean-to-bar industry, and I love every change! When I left Ottawa, there was not a place to buy origin chocolate (except one pastry shop selling Michel Cluizel and an Italian store selling a few brands of that country). Now there are specialty retailers for chocolate, better access online, and an increased interest all around. So I am sad to not be livng there anymore. But I am doing my part to bring fine chocolate to Northern Ontario .

All that said, I've updated the list with Felchlin and a few others: http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2015/06/the-ultimate-list-of-dark-milk.html

Have a great weekend!

Hi Thomas!  That's exciting.  I'd love to try it someday.  What is your website (if you have one)? I can add it to the dark-milk list if you are selling it.