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Originally posted by Chrissie

Hi Folks,

I was wondering if there is any specific reason to use purpose made wrapping foil for chocolate over regular kitchen foil? The reason is that I like to buy Amedei Chuao as a block then mould it into bars for personal consumption (and sharing) rather than for commercial reasons.

What I want to know is: 1. Will kitchen foil taint my chocolate? and 2. Is there any reason other than appearance that people use special foil over kitchen foil?

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1: No. In fact, the greater thickness of kitchen foil makes it a little more secure in the package. I like Reynolds Wrap heavy duty.

2: Part of it may well be the extra thickness I mention. This makes it more difficult to wrap – and indeed it might gum up the works of wrapping machines. Also it would make it more difficult to pack into boxes if you were using them as well.

Another poster mentioned the problem of sealing. On getting a good seal with kitchen foil, here’s what you do. Make sure first of all that your piece of foil is generously sized. Centre the bar on the foil. Now, fold over parallel to the long axis. When the 2 sides of foil line up, crease each side right at the bar. What you have now is sort of a “T” – the bar being on the bottom and a long tail of foil from both sides standing up right in the middle. Fold over the very top of that tail twice in a thin fold (it shouldn’t be more than about 1/2 cm). Be sure to crease carefully. Now fold down the whole tail along the line of one of the bottom creases, so that the tail is lying flat with the double-folded end to the side. Fold this tail in half, so that the double-folded end is now in the middle. Now, fold the now-doubled tail until it forms a seam lying flat in the middle of the bar. Having done this, you now have 2 ends at each end of the long axis of the bar. Fold each end in a thin, less-than-1/2-cm band and continue folding inwards (so that it’s a roll fold) until the folds come up right against the bar. The last few folds will be a bit difficult. Now you have a sealed bar.

A bar wrapped in this way is not only kept safe but you should be able to unwrap it and rewrap it in the same foil following the same lines without difficulty. The only thing you have to watch out for with thin foil (this is not a problem with Reynolds Heavy Duty) is that the chocolate doesn’t punch through at the corners (a stress point).

Alex Rast
Alex_Rast_Alternate@hushmail.com