How to store
chocolate correctly
Best tips for longlasting chocolate pleasure
Text:
Katharina Kuhlmann
Photography:
© istock, GoodLifeStudio
7 April 2021
A tasty piece of chocolate right from the fridge – this only works in TV advertisements. If you put chocolate into the fridge you will find out that taste and appearance will suffer from this kind of storage. The reasons for that are on the product chocolate itself, which has some special requirements for a long shelf life.
Chocolate is naturally sensitive to moisture. A refrigerator is always moist due to its condensation and can trigger the so-called sugar crystallisation in chocolate, which means that the sugar in the chocolate dissolves. If strong temperature fluctuations persist a so-called fat rime can appear, when the fats from the product move to the surface. The result of both processes is a different appearance of the chocolate, it becomes whitish, greyish or matt. This doesn’t look pleasing but doesn’t change the taste and the quality of the chocolate. The situation is different when the chocolate takes on the smell of food in the fridge or oxidises under the influence of light. In this case the chocolate is beyond remedy.
The suitable packaging for wrapped and opened chocolate is pretty simple and prevents all problems of a wrong storage. Just use a standard tin can to store your treats dry and dark. The tin can shouldn’t be put in the fridge, but at a constant and cool room temperature between 16 to 18 °C. Gourmets have known this for a long time: only room temperature guarantees the perfect melting point!