Season 9: Healthier & Tastier | Episode 1: A Healthier Milk Chocolate
From Science In Your Shopping Cart by USDA Agricultural Research Service
February 17, 2026 · 8 min · Season 9 · Episode 1
About this episode
This episode explores the potential of making milk chocolate healthier by incorporating agricultural byproducts like peanut skins.
The U.S. imports around $5 billion in cocoa and chocolate products annually, and we produce millions of pounds of chocolate for consumers. The health benefits of dark chocolate are well known, mainly it has more antioxidants than milk chocolate because it contains more cacao solids. But dark chocolate can be brittle and taste bitter. What if we could make milk chocolate as healthy as dark chocolate, without sacrificing taste? And what if we could do it by adding a low value agricultural byproduct, such as peanut skins? Connect with us: Twitter: @USDA_ARS Facebook: @AgriculturalResearchService LinkedIn: @usda-ars
Topics covered
- health benefits
- milk chocolate
- dark chocolate
- cocoa imports
- agricultural byproducts
Keywords
- milk chocolate
- dark chocolate
- health benefits
- cocoa
- peanut skins
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: USDA Agricultural Research Service
Products: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, cocoa, peanut skins
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