Where To Store Your Chocolate For Baking

Have you ever opened a chocolate bar and noticed that the surface of the chocolate has a whitish haze?

Don’t panic. You may have heard or even seen what bakers call “chocolate bloom”. Also known as sugar bloom or fat bloom, this looks like a whitish substance on the surface of your chocolate. It’s not dangerous. It’s actually the result of improper storage of the chocolate.

How does chocolate bloom happen?

This “bloom” happens when the chocolate has been exposed to a different temperature and then again to another temperature. This can make the sugar and fat in the chocolate melt and then solidify. The resulting moisture from this unintentional melting and the solidifying process is what causes the bloom.

This is not mold. It’s more likely to be a chocolate bloom since chocolate has little to no moisture content. It’s got more fat than moisture.

This bloom is why, when you shop at the supermarket or visit your local baking supply store, chocolates are not placed in the chiller or even near the refrigerated section. That’s because it doesn’t need to be chilled at all. It just needs to be stored at a temperature where it won’t melt.

Where do you store your chocolate?

We can probably guess that you store the chocolate treats you love to eat in the refrigerator. That’s where many of us store chocolate since chocolate melts so easily in our tropical climate. Normally, this is not an issue but we have a suggestion about where you should store the baking chocolate that might upset you: you should store your baking chocolate in the kitchen and not in the refrigerator.

We highly suggest it be away from the stove or anywhere where it might be exposed to heat and cause it to melt. Instead, it should be in a cool, dry area where it won’t be exposed to drastic temperature changes and result in the formation of bloom.

There is a big advantage to storing it in this way: chocolate will be easier to chop up, melt, and prepare to use for your baking recipes. Chocolate, when cold, is hard and that makes it hard to chop up even with a sharp knife.

Find a spot in your kitchen where you can properly store your chocolate without it melting so you can make it easy on yourself when you next work with chocolate.

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