OUGD401 - Case Study in Chocolate - Own brands vs expensive brands

I decided to do my case study on chocolate. I believe that most chocolate contains the same ingredients yet different branding can make a bar look more luxurious or expensive, making it exclusive and feel like a treat when you buy it. I have to admit though my personal favourite is one of the expensive brands - Lindt. I wondered if people would be able to taste the difference while blindfolded and guess which would be the most and least expensive. 

I bought a range of prices - from 30p to £1.50. In fact the Lindt bar had been reduced from £1.85 and the Milka bar on the far left was half price going from £1 to just 50p (I love Milka so that was a big bonus for me). I also bought the 'luxury' brand from Aldi which was just £1.15 for 125g and the bar is UTZ certified meaning that its ingredients have come from a sustainable farm and the farmers get better pay and quality of life (you can read more about it here).

I started by comparing the ingredients of the bars to see if there was any big difference between them that would effect the quality and taste of the chocolate. 

Ingredients of most expensive brand (Lindt Excellence Extra Creamy) - £1.50 for 100g
Cocoa solids 30% min. Milk solids 20% min.
Sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder, cocoa mass, butterfat, lactose, skimmed milk powder, malt extract (barley), emulsifier (soya lecithin), flavouring (vanilla). 

Ingredients of cheapest brand ( M Savers Milk Chocolate) - 30p for 100g
Cocoa solids 28% min. Milk solids 14% min.
Sugar, cocoa mass, dried whole milk, cocoa butter, emulsifiers (soya lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate), lactose (milk), vanilla extract. 

So, not much difference there apart from the ratios of cocoa solids and milk solids. 

Ingredients of mid brand (Milka Alpine Milk) - £1 for 100g 
Cocoa solids 30% min. Milk solids 18% min.
Sugar, cocoa butter, skimmed milk powder, cocoa mass, whey powder, milk fat, hazelnut paste, emulsifier (soya lecithin), flavouring. (unknown flavouring)

The thing I found interesting about Milka was the addition of hazelnut paste. Also I have found that the more expensive brands seem to add fat, perhaps this adds flavour or adds to the creaminess of the chocolate.

Ingredients of Aldi chocolate (Moser Roth Milk) - £1.15 for 125g
Coca solids 32% min. Milk solids 25% min.
Sugar, Cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa mass, butterfat (milk), emulsifier (soya lecithin), vanilla extract.

The Experiment

I conducted an experiment that involved different brands of chocolate. I wanted to keep which brand was which very secretive so I broke up the chocolate into small pieces and labelled it A, B, C and D. I chose 10 boys and 10 girls. I then asked to come in one by one to taste the chocolates while blindfolded and describe to me how each one tastes. At the end I asked which one of the four they thought would cost the most money.

I found the results really surprising. The majority of the people I asked said that all of the other chocolate bars tasted most expensive a part from the Lindt. In fact, when describing the taste of the Lindt chocolate, a lot of people said it tasted cheap and that it reminded them of easter egg or advent calendar chocolate. If this study were taken at a much larger scale than just 20 people I think the results would be significant. But here, there isn’t enough evidence to prove that people couldn’t tell the value of chocolate.