Chocolate keeps best somewhere cool, dry, dark and free of strong smells. A cupboard away from the oven and the window, at roughly 15 to 18°C, is right. The fridge is not, except as a last resort on a hot day. That is the whole of it. The rest of this page is why, and what to do when the kitchen is warm.
Where to keep it
Cocoa butter is what gives chocolate its snap and its shine, and it is fussy about temperature. It softens above about 20°C and melts in the low thirties. Kept cool it stays set in the crystal form it was tempered into, which is the one that snaps and melts clean on the tongue.
Four things to keep it away from:
- Heat. Not the shelf above the hob, not the windowsill, not the car.
- Damp. Under 50% humidity if you can manage it. Moisture on the surface is what causes the grainy white coating described below.
- Light. Sunlight warms the surface and, over time, dulls the flavour.
- Smells. Cocoa butter picks up whatever is near it. Chocolate kept next to the spice rack tastes of the spice rack.
Keep it in the box or wrapper it came in, or an airtight tin. Both slow the exchange of air and moisture.
Should chocolate go in the fridge?
No, unless the room is warmer than about 22°C for days on end and the chocolate is starting to soften.
Two things go wrong in a fridge. It is damp, so moisture settles on the surface and draws sugar out into a rough, pale film. And it is full of other food, so the chocolate takes on the smell of the cheese. Neither harms you. Both spoil the point of buying good chocolate.
If you have no choice, do it properly. Wrap it airtight, then put it at the back, away from the door. When you want to eat it, take the whole sealed parcel out and leave it for an hour or two until it reaches room temperature, and only then open it. That way the condensation forms on the outside of the bag rather than on the chocolate.
What the white coating means
A pale, dusty or streaky surface is called bloom. It is not mould and the chocolate is safe to eat. There are two kinds, and they tell you what went wrong.
Fat bloom looks streaky or greyish and feels slightly slick. The chocolate got warm enough for the cocoa butter to soften and set again in a looser crystal form. The texture turns waxy and the snap is gone, but the flavour is largely intact. This is what happens to chocolate left in a warm bag.
Sugar bloom looks like fine white speckling and feels dry and grainy. Moisture reached the surface, dissolved some sugar, and left the crystals behind when it dried. This is the fridge, or a cold-to-warm move without a wrapper.
Bloomed chocolate is fine for cooking. For eating you will notice the difference. Storage is the only prevention.
Nuts and dried fruit change the answer
Plain chocolate keeps for a long time because it holds almost no water. Add nuts and dried fruit and two new clocks start running.
Nuts contain oil, and oil goes rancid. Macadamias, pecans and pistachios are all high in unsaturated fat, which is exactly the kind that turns first. Warmth, light and air all speed that up, which is why the storage advice above matters more for a box with nuts on it than for a plain bar. Rancid nuts taste of old paint or crayon. It is unmistakable once you have met it.
Dried fruit moves moisture around. Cranberries and mango sit at a higher water content than the chocolate around them, and over months that moisture migrates. The fruit hardens, and the chocolate touching it can develop sugar bloom from the inside rather than the outside.
Neither is a safety problem. Both are a reason to eat a nut and fruit box sooner rather than later, and to keep it sealed and cool in the meantime.
Can you freeze it?
You can, but for a box like this there is little point, and the risk is all in the thawing.
If you must, move it from freezer to fridge for a day, still sealed, then from fridge to the counter for a few hours, still sealed, and only then open it. Each step is small enough that no condensation forms on the surface. Skip a step and you get sugar bloom. Dried fruit also tends to weep slightly after freezing, which softens the chocolate around it.
Storing a CLYNT box
Our box of twelve milk chocolate bars keeps for three months from the date on the box, in a cool cupboard away from light. Do not refrigerate it. Keep the lid on between servings, because the nuts are the part that suffers most from air.
If the cupboard is on the cold side, leave a bar out for ten minutes before eating it. Cocoa butter releases flavour as it warms, and chocolate straight from a cold room gives up about half of what it has.
Quick answers
What temperature should chocolate be stored at?
Between about 15 and 18°C, in a dry cupboard away from light and strong smells. Anything under 20°C and stable is acceptable.
Is it bad to keep chocolate in the fridge?
It is not dangerous, but it causes sugar bloom and picks up odours. Use the fridge only in a heatwave, wrapped airtight, and let it warm up sealed before opening.
Why has my chocolate gone white?
That is bloom. Streaky and slick means it got warm. Speckled and dry means it got damp. Both are safe to eat.
How long does chocolate with nuts on it last?
Less time than plain chocolate. The nut oils go rancid before the chocolate itself fades. Ours is dated three months.
Can chocolate go off?
Plain chocolate rarely becomes unsafe, it just fades. Nuts and dried fruit shorten that, so respect the date on the box.