Craft chocolate makers have spent 15 years focusing on dark bars, while milk chocolate has quietly outsold everything else. On National Milk Chocolate Day, the oversight is finally getting a second look.

Milk Chocolate by the Numbers

Chocolate, candy, gum, and mints reached $55 billion in U.S. sales last year, with chocolate alone accounting for 51.7% of every dollar spent on confectionery. Milk chocolate holds the title of America’s most-loved confection across every generation of shoppers.

Some makers, like Fruition Chocolate Works, have never bought the idea that milk chocolate wasn’t worth the effort. Fruition sells a lineup of milk and dark-milk bars alongside its dark ones, each tied to a named cacao origin. The company’s milk bars have received recognition, including a finalist spot at the International Chocolate Awards Americas competition.

The Trend is Only Getting Started

Milk chocolate never disappeared from the top of the list, even as parts of the craft chocolate world treated it as something less serious. What’s changing is the attention it’s finally receiving from makers and competitions that once focused almost exclusively on dark chocolate.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.