What is the best way to store my chocolate bars?
Image by Bean To Bar World. Yes, it’s okay to keep your chocolate in the fridge - but only if necessary - and only if done properly.
So you purchased your fine chocolate bars. You’ve taken a few bites, and they are so wonderful! Now you wish to put the rest away for safe keeping until the next craving hits. But you wonder, how should I store it? Do I put it into the fridge or not? How can I can enjoy that vibrant flavour for weeks or months to come?
The following information applies not only to chocolate bars as the ones sold here, but even your bags or blocks of chocolate that you may be using to make chocolate confections. So let’s start with the optimal place to store your chocolate
In A Cool Dark Place (the best place!)
What temperature exactly? Around 15-20°C is best. However, I have kept around ambient temperatures of 24-25°C, and they have kept well. However, cooler is better.
Why in the dark? So that the chocolate is not in the direct path of sunlight. If your bars sit in direct sunlight, they may heat up and begin to melt or destabilize the fat crystals (and increase chance of fat bloom). Fat bloom is the whitish dust like coating on the surface of a bar. This is simply the fat from within the bar that has “escaped”. It’s harmless, but changes the texture and overall experience of the chocolate.
Keep away from heat sources such near stoves, fridges, or other appliances that generate heat. Keep them away from cupboards near such appliances. Lower cupboards are often a bit cooler than the higher ones.
Seal your bars back in the original wrapper. Usually there are two wrappers: The outer box/paper wrapper, and the inner plastic or paper wrapper that hugs the chocolate. Wrap it back in both. If you don’t have the original wrapping anymore, you can wrap it in odorless paper and put it in a resealable bag (make sure to squeeze much of the air out as possible)
Place it in an airtight container. This step is a sort of a “flavour insurance”. If your bars are in their original wrapping, you don’t necessarily have to do this. However, if you collect many bars and plan to have them for months or over a year, it’s best to be safe than sorry. Even if you keep it in a cool dry dark cupboard - sometimes odours in your kitchen/home can seep in (ever burn something in the kitchen?). A resealable plastic bag can work for the short term, but not long term. The bags are semi permeable and over time they’ll allow odours in and out.
Avoid strong ambient odours. Wherever you place your bars (opened/unopened; in a container or not) put them somewhere that is more odour neutral. Chocolate (and even cacao beans) very easily absorb surrounding odours. This is why I recommend an airtight container (but make sure it is clean and odourless - not one with the odour of last weeks pasta). This is also why I say that the resealable bag is only good for short term (a few weeks), as over time they may not be as durable a defense against surrounding odours. The bags also allow for a greater rate of oxidations, diminishing the fine flavour notes in the chocolate.
2. In The Fridge (If your home/kitchen gets too warm)
It is a myth that chocolate can’t be kept in the fridge. Some people think the coolness of the fridge can ruin the flavour of your bars long term. This is nonsense. and we have no evidence for this. Chocolate makers and chocolatiers use the fridge to properly set chocolate. Chocolate is always kept in temperature controlled rooms, or rooms called “cold rooms”. If you live in tropical or warm climates, or worried your home or apartment will get warmer than 23-25°C, then it is critical you keep your chocolate in the fridge. But there are some points to consider before throwing it in the fridge. Keep your chocolate in the fridge properly is better for your chocolate than allowing them to sit for long periods of time in higher temperatures. It will destabilize the fats (or melt it completely), which will ruin the texture, impact the flavour you experience, and diminish the quality overall.
So yes, chocolate can be kept in the fridge, but only if done properly and when necessary. If you are a bar collector and plan to keep them for many months or years, it may be good to invest in a small fridge or wine cooler set to their warmest settings. So here are some points to consider:
As above in step one, you want to wrap it back up in the original inner and exterior wrappers. If you don’t have these, you can wrap it in odourless paper and place it in a resealable bag.
You also want to be sure to keep it in a resealable hard container (or bag as a last resort). This is very important. Fridges contain strong odours from time to time. A glass (best choice) or plastic airtight container will prevent odours from penetrating and being absorbed into the bars. Granted, some new wrappers are quite impenetrable in regards to odours, but most are not. I would always designated a hard resealable container to your bars when putting them in the fridge. You essentially want to keep your bars in a vacuum if you’re going to put it into a fridge with all sorts of foods and odours in there.
Let your chocolate acclimate before unwrapping. This is where people freak out in regards to not putting your chocolate in the fridge, but it’s an easy thing to avoid. If you don’t allow the chocolate to acclimate, and you unwrap your bars while they are cold, condensation (moisture) will collect on the surface of the bar. This is especially true if it is both warm and humid in the room. You should wait 15-20 minutes or up to an hour depending on the temperature of your room, thickness of the bars, whether they are taken out of the container or still stacked together inside, etc. Why avoid condensation? The condensation will cause sugar bloom and make the chocolate bar sticky (the water melts the microscopic sugar crystals on the surface of the chocolate, and when they dry they crystalize leaving a white film on the bar). This sugar bloom isn’t bad for you, but it does change the look and the texture (which in turn influences your flavour experience).
Once your bars have acclimated, you can unwrap them and enjoy them. You should also not eat your chocolate cold. I mean, you can (some people enjoy it) but it’s not ideal for flavour extraction. Eating your chocolate cold will change the way it melts, which is important to the overall experience. It may feel waxier or chalkier if eaten cold. As well, the biggest issue is that cold will dim or mute the fine aromas in your chocolate. The flavour in cold food is more dim than when the same food is warm. If you don’t believe me, try tasting your cold ice cream vs the same ice cream melted (sweetness and flavour overload). So you’re essentially dimming the flavour by eating it cold. Another reason to let your chocolate acclimate before removing it from the wrapper and enjoying it.
Follow these steps, and you can very successfully keep it in the fridge. Remember, the question isn’t should I put it in the fridge or not. The question is how do I best store my chocolate to keep it in optimal quality. And the answer depends on your situation. Cool, dark, odourless place is ideal - but sometimes a fridge is necessary. And if you’re a collector, it makes a lot of sense to hold your bars long-term in a designated mini fridge or wine cooler.
How Long Can You Store Them?
If opened, place your chocolate back in the original wrappers/box if possible. Then place it in an airtight container. Keep this in a cool dark area, or in the fridge if your home is too warm. If you place it in the fridge, don’t open the containers until the chocolate has acclimated to the surrounding temperature (either a few hours or overnight).
Plain dark chocolate (cacao beans, sugar, cocoa butter) can last for years without spoiling, especially if kept dry. The high levels of polyphenols in dark chocolate, along with the high amounts of fat from the cocoa butter, make it virtually inhospitable for microorganisms to grow on.
That said, you don’t really want to keep your chocolate around for more than a year or two, as the flavours will change over time. Those fine aromas you loved in your bar when you first purchased it will dim over time. This is especially true for bars that have been opened, and those that are not heat sealed in a non-permeable material. The closer you eat it to the manufacturing date (if your bar indicates) the better tasting it will be. You can still eat it years later if kept well, but it may not taste as great.
Milk chocolate has a long shelf life too if kept cool, dark, and wrapped well. However, if exposed to moisture/air, it can grow mold from the high sugar content on it.
Bottom line is, keep your chocolate wrapped tight, away from heat/moisture/odours, and it will last for a long time.
This does not apply to chocolate bonbons or truffles or anything that contains fresh cream/butter/ganaches. These only last a few weeks outside the fridge (but more on these another time).
What happens if it DOES melt?
So, if your fine chocolate bar does melt, either from transport/shipping, or from you keeping it near the sun or somewhere warm, it’s not the end of the world.
Eat it melted! Absolutely nothing wrong with eating melted fine chocolate. This is another fun way to enjoy your bars, especially during colder times of the year. But you may want to save some of it, so what do you do?
Set it again by placing it somewhere cool or in the fridge, but keep it in it’s originally packaging, or in a resealable bag or wrap it in some way so it doesn’t leak.
It will solidify, but will look “ugly” as it is not in temper anymore. It may look white and blotchy, and so the texture won’t be as nice as you would want. Your chocolate isn’t moldy because of this, it is just that the fat wasn’t allowed to crystalize in the optimal way.
The flavour is still there! So acclimate your chocolate back to room temperature before unwrapping it, take a couple bites, move it around in your mouth, let it melt, and enjoy! The flavour is still there, and you can certainly still enjoy your chocolate bar. You just may not like the initial texture as it may be more chalky/gritty due to the way the fat resettled.
If you know how to temper chocolate, and how to temper it the table method, go ahead and re-temper your bar. Just spread the tempered chocolate on a parchment lined tray, chill it in the fridge, and you will have the same bar, with a beautiful texture, the same flavour, just in a different form!
Main Points
Wrap it well, and place in a (odourless) container for double insurance
Storage: (glass jars are best, then plastic containers, then Resalable bags, and Plastic Wrap As a last resort).
Keep it cool - away from the sun and heat sources. Ideally 15-20°C
If coming from the fridge, let it acclimate before opening The Wrapper.
Never eat it cold. Chocolate bars were not intended to be eaten chilled.
Eat it as close to the time you bought it. don’t let it sit around for a year or two on purpose. But if you do, you still can enjoy it.
A wine cooler/fridge is also a good place for them. Especially if you are a “collector” and will always have many bars you want to preserve. The same rules apply for acclimating before eating. Just make sure they are wrapped well, and if you are worried chocolate is exposed because the wrapper is torn, place it in a resealable bag, remove the air, and then place it in the fridge.