I know bobvilax2000 put this in another thread somewhere, but I forgot to reply. I keep my samples (wrappers and all) in self seal plastic bags (Ziploc being the best), then in large sealed plastic containers that can hold many bars. The bags stop any cross-contamination of flavours and help to keep them fresh.

In the summer I keep all these in the lowest, coolest part of the building.

Martin Christy
Editor
http://www.seventypercent.com

Wow, my first reply since the hurricane; it had me down for a while but not forever.
I store my chocolate in plastic bags as well: one bar per bag. Then I put them in plastic containers, on the top portion of a wine cooler for constant temperature and humidity control. Luckily, my chocolate survived the lack of electricity for nine days :)

I searched the forum for the related topic and found this one. So I hope that there is no other topic discussing this…
The summer is going much to hot for me and my supply of chocolate [xx(]. I always had a room in which the temperature never raised above 23C. But it’s so hot in the moment that it reaches 26C in the evening. So I do not know what to do as I’m very afraid of ruin my chocolates.
On the other hand I can get my hands on an unused refrigerator. It is offline in the moment, so no danger of contamination of flavours with cheese or whatever. But this one cools down to 12C.
So what shall I do? Keep it at changing 24C-26C or at 12C (which I imagine to be much to low)? And how dangerous is storage at 26C? Perhaps I worry too much? I hope someone can help me!

Hi marioh,
best temperature is between 12°C and 18°C. The relative humidiy should be under 70 %.

Arne

http://www.theobroma-cacao.de

From my understanding, chocolate bars can be stored at a higher temperature because the only fat they contain is cocoa butter, which as you know, can maintain its crystalline structure more solidly than other kinds of fats, such as cream. Also, cream goes rancid much quicker than cocoa butter obviously (there are compounds in the chocolate that preserve the freshness). I’ve posted a thread explaining all this before, but I’m too lazy to search for it. It’s somewhere around here….

Filled chocolates should not be stored around 23-26C; that’s simply too hot. The chocolate will melt instantly when it enters your mouth, thus ruining the experience. 12C is not too cold at all. Just make sure that the temperature remains at a consistent level. Besides, cream is (or should be) stored in the refrigerator where it is typically a cool and crisp 4C.

I have stored all these items in a wine cooler and even a mini refrigerator devoted solely to chocolate, and the temperature of each device was more than adequate. I wouldn’t worry so much because if you store the chocolate at a cool enough and constant temperature, it should be fine.

One final bit of advice: wrap each box and bar in foil. This protects the chocolate from humidity/moisture problems and reflects solar energy.