Last Updated on by Eat Better Move More
Can I Eat Expired Chocolate
You will usually see an expiration or a “best by” date whenever you check out the label of your beloved chocolate candy or bar.
Don’t let these two labels confuse you. An expiry date indicates that the product may be unhealthy to consume beyond the date on its label.
But baby formula is the only product allowed by the United States Department of Agriculture to include an expiry date. So, then again, you’re probably still asking, ‘can I eat expired chocolate?’
Like milk, some commodities include a “sell by” deadline, meaning that retailers should endeavor to sell them or remove them from the shelf before that deadline.
If processed correctly, the food is also completely healthy to consume past the deadline, as per information from the Second Harvest Food Bank.
It should be discarded if the product displays evidence of spoilage, like a texture or odor that is inconsistent.
What Happens If You Eat Expired Chocolate?
You probably have this question rushing through your mind!
Even though a food is healthy, it might not imply that should keep consuming it. Chocolate that is kept for longer periods of time is subject to some alterations, particularly if it is not preserved in suitable conditions, like those in places that are too cold or hot.
These modifications influence the texture and color of the chocolate bar, and that can be a major turn off for most people.
For instance, suppose you have ever noticed a bar of chocolate in the back of the refrigerator and felt it was your blessed moment; you have encountered a normal transition that happens with expired chocolate just to open it to discover it had a whitish decoloration.
This is dubbed “fat bloom” by the food scientists, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science reveals that it is not dangerous.
Fat bloom results as melted fat – usually cocoa butter- makes its way to the chocolate surface and crystallizes. Companies have tried to find out why and how fat bloom arises and the best possible way to avoid it without much progress.
However, it is linked to the chocolate bar’s permeability, as per the writers of an article released in April 2015, by the ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.
Porosity reduction may help minimize or avoid the blooming of fat. Knowing all these now, Can an expired chocolate kill you? Of course not! Eat as much of it like you want, but don’t forget, the taste might be compromised.
Storing and Eating Chocolate
But when you desire a quick chocolate treat, and it has a strange white lining, all that research may not benefit you. Chocolate will also thin up, making eating, not all that fun – with or without bloom.
Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego advises that the only thing you should do as a buyer is stock chocolate correctly in a cold, dry location with a range of temperature at about 60 – 75oF. If you conduct a research experiment to observe fat bloom in motion, stop storage temperature variations that can speed things up.
A great method to avoid expired chocolate is to consume it while you still can. Don’t joke about your health. Owing to its elevated fat, calorie, and sugar content, it is a snack best eaten in moderation.
The best healthy variety is dark chocolate; the darker, the healthier. As per the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, cocoa is an abundant source of phytochemicals known as flavonols, which can greatly boost the cardiovascular system’s health.
Also, it is a great source of copper, iron, phosphorus, zinc, and magnesium. So, has your question, ‘Can an expired chocolate kill you been answered? Definitely.
For the best medical benefits, Harvard recommends considering chocolate that comprises seventy percent or more cocoa contents.
Dark chocolate can take some time to become familiar with if you already love consuming milk chocolate. It has a somewhat bitter taste but comparable to a delicious black espresso or coffee. Gradually, consume a small portion of it, taking your time to enjoy its rich quality.
Safety
Remember that a rise in temperature helps microbes to grow. Condensation occurs if chocolate liquefies and let out some heat afterward.
This sets the stage for microbes to thrive on its surface. It is there, although you may not be able to see it.
If you are convinced that your bar of chocolate has not undergone changes in temperature for the previous year or so, then happily relish yourself with the snack.
Flavor
The flavor of your chocolate bar is what you should consider next. This also depends on what kind of chocolate it is.
If the bar is a bar of milk chocolate, since it can taste rancid, there’s a good probability that it is now quite late to eat. At some point, it might even have the taste of cardboard paper.
Although you may have the intention of liquefying it so that you can utilize it as pastry condiments, it will be given an off-taste by the dairy milk. Eating it is still healthy, but that fantastic taste will no longer be there.
On the flip side, dark chocolate will still be safe to eat, but the chocolate taste may not be as strong as it was earlier. Nonetheless, consuming will always be fine.
Kirk proposed that it makes a whole lot of sense to utilize expired dark chocolate as a frosting agent; you can utilize it as hot fudge or grate it on top of your ice cream.
So, what happens if you eat expired chocolate? Nothing really. But don’t expect to get the same delicious taste as always.
Expired Chocolate Conclusion
Refrigeration is not needed for chocolate because it has a lengthy shelf-life. On a chocolate bar package, a “best by” period obviously implies that the product will not be at optimum consistency when it passes this date, but that does not stop it from being edible.
By recognizing two items that will influence the option of whether or not expired chocolate is safe to consume will answer your, ‘can I eat expired chocolate’ question.
Indeed, you should strive to verify whether or not expired chocolate is still deemed acceptable to consume. Its taste is what you should always remember.
You would not like to consume chocolate that has a similar taste to cardboard paper, isn’t it?
Bryn Kirk, a Chocolate University Online learning coordinator, expressed that when you notice an expired bar of chocolate stored in certain cabinet drawers, these two variables, flavor and safety, should be the next things you should remember.
