Cadbury launched Dairy Milk chocolate in 1905.
The British confectionery company introduced Dairy Milk as a milk-chocolate bar made with a higher proportion of milk than many earlier products. That creamy formulation helped it become one of Cadbury’s defining brands and eventually one of the best-known chocolate bars in the United Kingdom.
Cadbury had already been making chocolate for decades. The company was founded by John Cadbury in Birmingham in 1824 and began producing cocoa and drinking chocolate before expanding into eating chocolate. Dairy Milk’s success reflected a broader change in consumer taste during the early twentieth century, as milk chocolate became increasingly popular.
The bar’s name refers to its milk content, not to a separate type of cocoa bean. Recipes and product formats have changed across markets and over time, so modern Dairy Milk bars may not be identical to the original 1905 recipe. Cadbury is now part of Mondelēz International.