Zotter Labooko lactose-free Milk Chocolate

Lactose-free milk chocolate. I love Zotter's Labooko range, with its origins and flavours, but I'll admit that I was somewhat underwhelmed when given these bars, not to sound ungrateful, of course, I just didn't have a lactose intolerance. Little did I know that 'lactose-free' simply meant a sugar removed from the milk: no biggie

The 35% cocoa, cow's milk-milk chocolate smelt like white chocolate; it tasted rich like white chocolate. If it was a white chocolate, it would have been the best white chocolate I had ever had

The taste was rich in cane sugar, vanilla and toffee. I loved it. It had a smooth texture, excellent temper, mould and snap. The only thing I didn't like was fructose-glucose syrup listed on the ingredients, I had never seen this in chocolate before, and there was more of it than there was cocoa mass. But oh god was this chocolate good

The 40% cocoa 'milk' chocolate smelt familiar. Racking my index of smells, eureka!: The Raw Chocolate Company's Vanoffee. It was an aroma not too pleasant

The taste reminded me of, dare I say, 'cheap' chocolate. Occasionally I came across the finely ground cereal [millet powder] which enhanced the texture. The finish was kinda malty

Zotter calls it a milk chocolate, but it contains no milk ... the ingredients are: cocoa butter, raw cane sugar, millet powder, cocoa mass, salt & vanilla. What makes it a milk chocolate is that the millet within was originally made into 'millet milk', a vegan milk substitute, and then dried into millet powder, just like regular milk is. I did not enjoy this chocolate

If you have a lactose intolerance, and even if you don't, I recommend the 35% milk chocolate bar! And if you're vegan, maybe stick with Zotter's Labooko dark chocolate. A little reminder that Zotter chocolate is made bean to bar, organic and Fairtrade!