Dairy Fat

Milk fat or butterfat is a permissible ingredient in American dark chocolate. When used as an ingredient in dark chocolate, milk fat is added to inhibit the potential for bloom and to soften the chocolate slightly, resulting in a less brittle product and a faster melt in the mouth. Milk fat is less expensive than the cocoa butter it displaces, so it also lowers the cost of the chocolate. Although it is permissible, not all American-made dark chocolate contains butterfat; the highest-quality dark chocolates do not contain any fat other than cocoa butter. As with any of the ingredients used in manufacturing chocolate in the United States, if butterfat is present, it must be declared on the label.