Milk chocolate for eating was first made by Cadbury in 1897 by adding milk powder paste to the dark chocolate recipe of cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar. By today's standards this chocolate was not particularly good: it was coarse and dry and not sweet or milky enough for public tastes.
There was a great deal of competition from continental manufacturers, not only the French with their fancy chocolates but also the Swiss, renowned for their milk chocolate.
Led by George Cadbury Junior, the Bournville experts set out to meet the challenge. A considerable amount of time and money was spent on research and on new plant designed to produce the chocolate in larger quantities.
A recipe was formulated incorporating fresh milk, and production processes were developed to produce a milk chocolate 'not merely as good as, but better than' the imported milk chocolate.
Four years of hard work were invested in the project and in 1905 what was to be Cadbury's top selling brand was launched. Three names were considered: Jersey, Highland Milk and Dairy Maid. Dairy Maid became Dairy Milk, and Cadbury's Dairy Milk, with its unique flavour and smooth creamy texture, was ready to challenge the Swiss domination of the milk chocolate market.
By 1913 it had become the company's best selling line and in the mid twenties Cadbury's Dairy Milk gained its status as the brand leader, a position it has held ever since.
Today more than 250 million bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk are made every year and sales reach more than £250 million in value.
While advertising and label design have changed with fashions and considerable strides have been made in manufacturing techniques, the recipe for Cadbury Dairy Milk, with its 'glass and a half of full cream milk in every half pound produced', is still basically the same as when it was launched.