Chocolate milk is sweetened
cocoa-
flavored milk. It can be created by mixing
chocolate syrup (or chocolate powder) with milk (from cows, goats, soy, rice, etc.). It can be purchased pre-mixed with milk or made at home by blending milk with
cocoa powder and a sweetener (such as
sugar or a
sugar substitute), melted
chocolate,
chocolate syrup, or a powdered chocolate milk mix. Other ingredients, such as
starch, salt,
carrageenan,
vanilla, or
artificial flavoring are sometimes added. The
carrageenan is used at very low concentrations to form an imperceptible weak gel that prevents the large, dense particles of chocolate from sedimentation. Chocolate milk should be
refrigerated like unflavored milk, with the exception some Ultra High Temperature (UHT) pasteurized drinks, which can be stored at room temperature. Chocolate milk was first created by
Hans Sloane in
Jamaica during the late 1680s, and is generally served cold. The nutritional qualities of chocolate milk are the subject of debate: while some studies criticize the high sugar content of chocolate milk, other studies suggest that chocolate milk is nutritionally superior to white milk.