Monday, August 6, 2007

Milka Alpenmilch

Milka in WrapperIf you’ve ever been to Europe you’ve probably seen the Milka bar called “Alpenmilch”. It comes in a lilac-colored wrapper featuring a lilac colored cow on it. Billed not as a chocolate bar, it’s called a “Chocolate Confection”. Reading the ingredients, it’s not added vegetable fat that keeps it from being called “chocolate” in the United States, it’s whey and hazelnut paste.

Milka was introduced in Switzerland in 1901 by Suchard as an affordable confection for the masses. The name comes from the German words Milch (milk) and Kakao (cocoa).

The Suchard company was briefly run by Philip Morris starting in 1990. In 1993 Philip Morris rolled their other food conglomerate, Kraft, in with Suchard and is now called Kraft Jacobs Suchard AG. This huge company makes a lot of well-known European sweets under the brands Marabou, Terry’s, Toblerone, Callard & Bowser, Cote d’Or and Daim. At the beginning of this year Altria (the new name for Philip Morris, which sounds like a diet drug to me) announced it was spinning Kraft back off into its own company.

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I found this attractive looking bar at Target for $1.69. I’ve also seen the white confection version at the 99 Cent Only Stores, but I wanted to try this one first.

The funny thing about the bar is the little marketing line on the back:

Treat your senses to a smooth, rich flavor. Delight in MILKA - the tender, chocolaty pleasure of Alpine Milk.

I’ve never heard chocolate described as tender before!

The bar is rather light looking, lighter than a Hershey bar. It has a softer snap to it, as most milk chocolate bars do. It smells distinctly milky and a little nutty. It melts slowly and has a very sticky, fudgy feel on the tongue. The thick melt does release a lot of flavors. The primary flavor is powdered milk, followed by a little burnt sugar taste and a light touch of hazelnuts. Though the bar is pleasant, there’s very little “chocolate” flavor in here.

There must be a lot of milk in this bar because a single serving (1.48 ounces) contains 10% of your RDA of calcium and 3 grams of protein. (Of course a glass of milk has three times that.)

Target carries a rather wide selection of all kinds of chocolate. This isn’t really top of the line stuff, but if you’re a fan of European style milky chocolate or would like a less expensive version of guanduia (hazelnut chocolate paste), then this might be a good option. I’ll finish this bar and likely try the Milka White confection, but I’m not sure if I’d buy it again.

Note from wrapper: May contain traces of other tree nuts [remember there are hazelnuts in here] and wheat. This bar was made in Germany.

Related Candies

  1. Theo 3400 Phinney Bars
  2. Hershey’s Cacao Reserve
  3. Villars Swiss Milk Chocolate
  4. Karuna & Princas Sokoladas
  5. Dairy Milk Bubbly
Name: Milka Alpenmilch
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Kraft
Place Purchased: Target (Glendale)
Price: $1.69
Size: 3.52 ounces
Calories per ounce: 156
Categories: Chocolate, Nuts, Germany, Kraft

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:40 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. This is the chocolate I grew up with, in Germany. I always say this is how my taste buds are calibrated. grin

    Comment by elkit on 8/06/07 at 8:10 pm #
  2. On a recent trip to Germany i discovered Milka.  Brought home over 100 candy bars.  Probably ate about 30 over there.  My whole family is obsessed with them.  Our family that lives there sends us them.  It is definitly the best chocolate ever.

    Comment by Jessica Huff on 9/04/07 at 1:41 am #
  3. Does anyone know the address for Milka.  My daughter is doing a project and needs it.  I cannot read German.

    .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

    Comment by Jessica Huff on 9/04/07 at 1:42 am #
  4. The people writing in this blog are real neopytes!!! It is disguisting to read how you give higher “grades” to American Candies than to foreign candies. If you stop being so arrogant for a second, maybe you would realize that people across the globe have different preferences than you do. Milka has, as I experience it, far better chocolate than any American brand I have tried (And I have tried several). But no!!!! You gave milka a mere 6!!!

    I have nitice this obsession that you have of diminishing the quality of foreign candies in several other posts!! And I am quite upset!!! For example, you clearly have never tried many of the best candies produced by Arcor (e.g. Toffy/menthoplus/Aguila Minitorta/Bonobon/etc), yet you have the nerve to call it the worst candy manufacturer ever!!! (and just to let you know, Arcor is not a candy manufacturer!)So, maybe it would help us readers if you stop being so ignorant and start writing things with a little more of objectivity.

    Thank You!!!

    Comment by Freddy on 9/09/07 at 2:08 pm #
  5. mmmmmm….......... milka

    Comment by dakota on 12/13/07 at 3:05 pm #
  6. While working for a previous employer I was introduced to Milka when a vendor came over from Germany. Since then I have been hooked. I consider them to be far superiour to the US version. Probably because there is a lot of wax in the US version. Since that time I have been looking where to buy them here in the US. For a short while Wal-mart carried them but they have since pulled them off their shelf in favor or other more exotic and nature versions. I notived here that someone said Target carries them. I wonder if that is still true. A target is set to open here this year. Cant wait if its true.

    Comment by Martin on 4/14/08 at 3:22 pm #
  7. My local Target carried them for a very short time, a couple of years ago - but the Cost Plus World Market usually have them (and lots more candy from Germany and other countries).

    Comment by elkit on 4/15/08 at 6:04 am #
  8. MILKA is one of the best tasting chocolates I have ever eatin.  Having lived in Germany for a number of years and exposed to all sorts of brands, this always was my favorite followed by the Ritter Sport Alpenmilch.

    The closest tasting American chocolate is a definite “Hershey’s Symphony”  I could hardly notice the tiny bit of difference.

    Comment by Linda on 5/02/08 at 4:38 pm #
  9. Hershey’s SUCKS. Milka RULES.

    Comment by Pauline on 7/17/08 at 3:00 am #
  10. i’m wondering if anyone can help by telling me if milka suitable for vegetarians and alcohol free?

    Comment by unknown on 7/25/08 at 2:21 am #
  11. What are u doing giving a german chocolate a 6 its way better than any stupid american chocolate my mom refuses to eat any hersheys because its so bad compared to Milka raise that number to a ten and fast or get your taste buds fixed!!!

    Comment by Esther on 10/04/08 at 10:39 am #
  12. I agree Milka is a definite 10 if not a 10.5.  Who rated it anyway?  Surely someone who doesn’t know good chocolate.  Hershey is no way even close to a 10.  I’ll give the Hershey Symphony a 6 but Milka definitely a 10.

    Comment by Linda on 10/04/08 at 10:52 am #
  13. Cybele's avatar

    Esther & Linda - you’re funny! Of course others love it, there’d be no way it’d make its way all the way to the US without ardent fans. I’m happy you’re able to get a hold of it so much easier now.

    It’s really not an either or proposition - I think there’s plenty of room in this world for people who have different preferences for candy. It’s a quality product ... never said otherwise. 

    (And if you were regular readers you’d know that I don’t give Hershey’s Milk Chocolate very high marks.)

    Comment by Cybele on 10/04/08 at 1:57 pm #
  14. Actually, I’ve had both the stuff from Germany and the stuff you were able to get here a couple years ago.  I was really excited to see it at Target because the German bars were always one of my favorites.  Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t feel like the US stuff was the same… sweeter and less mellow.  Anyone know if the formula is different, or if I’m just being an import snob?

    Comment by Julie on 11/13/08 at 2:06 pm #
  15. I actually do not typically care for any kind of chocolate other than dove truffles every Valentines Day.  I can’t stand Hersheys chocolate, but had tried German Chocolate quite a few years and remembered it was tasty.  So I asked my sister to bring me home some when she came back to visit (her family is stationed there for 4 years).  I tell you what, this is the best damn chocolate I have ever tasted in my life.  It is the best damn candy anything I have ever tasted.  I also found it at my local target and was so excited since my sister only brought me 3 bars.  Well, I purchased some and to my disappointment, they are CERTAINLY not the same.  I dont know what they changed, as I can’t read the German packaging, but they changed something alright.  Don’t judge it until you try the authentic, imported, German Alpenmilch Milka.  After some research online looking for it, I also found may retailers that import it or are willing to export it to you say that it is almost impossible to keep it stocked as it is in such demand.  I guess everyone has their own tastes however, funny though how no one has agreed with the OP’s post however…

    Comment by Chocolate Blah on 1/02/09 at 11:16 am #
  16. upon its landing on my tastebuds, my mouth was filled with (that’s what she said) complete and utter hazelpaste happiness. my dear little german friend bestowed this chocolatey confection upon me this morning when she returned from germany, her motherland. in an instant, my clostrophobic hershey world was opened up into a new haselnuss dimension—H-D. Ahhhhhhhhhh. What sweet, tender happiness; what sheer erdbeer bliss! what tantalizing, all-inclusive alpenmilch joy! sometimes i feel like a nut, but most times i feel like a NOISETTE!

    Comment by milkaholic on 2/07/09 at 4:36 am #
  17. please can you tell me for a project, if this is fair trade choclate? thankss

    Comment by 17. on 10/18/10 at 2:54 am #
  18. If you TRULY love chocolate and are stuck here in the states, do yourself a favor and spend a few bucks to get yourself some Milka! Its worth every tender nibble! May sound silly but a tagline finally is true, the rich fatty Alpine milk makes all the difference!

    Comment by Cris on 12/28/10 at 11:46 pm #
  19. BTW I dont mean get the US version ( a bit dumbed down version if you ask me) Get it from Germany via wesites, prices are not to bad.

    Comment by Cris on 12/28/10 at 11:52 pm #
  20. Sorry for my bad English!

    I saw Milka in California in the Target. I’ve checked, and it was from Poland. Unfortunatelly the Polish version is weaker than the original German. Here in Central Europe, unfortunatelly you can buy almost only the Polish version…

    Comment by Klown on 7/16/14 at 11:58 pm #
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