How to: storing chocolate
Storing food properly is key when it comes to preserving quality and flavor. We’ve already shared some damn handy tips & tricks on how best to store your cheese, coffee, olive oil and honey. That bar of chocolate also needs to be stored carefully.
Some people store their bar in the fridge, while others keep it in the kitchen cupboard. I’m team fridge myself, because the crisp of a cold piece of chocolate is the ultimate pleasure for me. But is storing chocolate in the fridge really such a good idea? Mais non!, says three-Michelin-star chef Alain Ducasse.
Tips from the expert
Besides his 40 restaurants, Alain Ducasse also has 10 branches of Le Chocolat spread across Paris and London. You get it: we trust monsieur Ducasse’s knowledge and expertise completely. In an interview with Business Insider, the chef explains that storing chocolate in the fridge should be avoided. The low temperature causes the sugar in the chocolate to crystallize, creating a white layer on the bar.
How to store chocolate
But how should you store it? The perfect temperature for storing chocolate is somewhere between 15℃ and 18℃. This prevents your chocolate from turning white and your bar from becoming as soft as butter. The most suitable temperature for eating chocolate is 20℃, by the way, according to Alain Ducasse. Important side note: it’s best to eat ganache within 3 weeks, bonbons within a month, and you can take a few months to finish a bar (if you can manage it—how?!).
Conclusion
So from now on, don’t put that bar in the fridge; store it airtight in the kitchen cupboard instead. Incidentally, you can still eat chocolate that has turned white, as long as it hasn’t been next to a piece of cheese. It may look different, but the taste is still exactly the same.
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