Why does chocolate go white when it goes out of date?

Answer 1

It means your chocolate has "Bloomed" in one, two or both possible ways.

One of these is Fat Bloom that can appear on chocolate. It occurs when chocolate is stored at high temperature (above 80 degrees F) or experiences widely fluctuating temperatures, causing cocoa butter to crystallize on the surface as gray streaks.

Sugar Bloom occurs because of moisture or extremely high humidity,causing sugar to dissolve out of the chocolate. Sugar Bloom has a gritty texture.

Chocolate that experiences a "Fat" bloom is still edible..."Tempering" - melting the chocolate to redistribute the butter fat will restore it's color

Sugar bloomed chocolate does not fair as well from re-melting because you have lost moister, and the addition of moister to hot chocolate will make it "Seize" turning it rock hard and unusable.

You could try adding a few tablespoons of vegetable oil to the chocolate but unless it's of the highest quality, it won't be worth the effort of trying to bring it back!

Answer 2

Chocolate Going White

Answer 3

I'm not sure but it happens on chocolate in date too, All my choc Xmas decorations last year were white (they werent supposed to be!)

BUT
when I tried to send back a pack of Choccy biscuits when the chocolate had started to go white (they were in date) and the reason they gave me (as to why they wouldn't refund me) was that it has something to do with the temperature... ! It makes the sugar re-act with the cocoa or something. Called Bloom & is harmless apparently!
That was Cadbury's. I didn't believe them either. What do they know about chocolate anyway?!

Answer 4

It only goes white when it's stored at too high a temperature - causing some of the ingredients to seperate. It CAN be eaten with no affect on the person, but it does taste awful.

I bought a bar chocolate awhile back, it wasn't until I had taken a couple of bites I realised it had white dots on it and tastied awful. So I sent it back to the makers who told me about the incorrect storage and refunded me my money for the chocolate and the postage.

Answer 5

The white is called bloom. It does not mean that it is out of date but that the temperature it was stored in has changed (ex. if you put chocolate in the fridge it will turn white). It is still edible and the taste is okay but the texture is not as good since it means that the ingredients have started to separate.

Answer 6

If the chocolate looks OK (not white and scaly) and it doesn't have anything in it like grasshoppers ants peanuts etc it is OK. If it has other ingredients it may go bad and taste bad but it is unlikely to kill you unless the grasshoppers have rotted then you should not eat it :) but you weren't going to eat chocolate covered grasshoppers were you?

Answer 7

pure chocolate/ couverture does not really go out of date. it does not expire, esp. those with more cocoa butter in them like 70% or more. in fact, some baker age their chocolates, because aged chocolate actually tastes more mellow. when it turns white, the term is blooming- this happens with moisture.

Answer 8

this does not happen only when it is out of date, this can also happen when it is left in warm conditions and basically all it is is where the cream from the chocolate seperates and rises. its perfectaly fine to eat and still tastes great.

Answer 9

This happens because all the ingredients such as the milk and butter have settled so you can see the separate components of the choclate rather than the blended stuff before it goes off.

Answer 10

it's called blooming and if you melt the chocolate in a special tempering machine it's OK again.