Letting chocolate go bad is basically a crime.

From chocolate milk tochocolate-covered strawberries, its an ingredient thats as versatile as it is palatable.

Heres how to store the most common types of chocolate before it starts to decline.

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Chocolate bars are the most stable and last longest.

Youll want to store it away from heat, moisture, and light.

This is when the cocoa buttera key ingredient in most chocolate barsstarts to melt and incorrectly crystallizes.

So, keep your chocolate cool (but not too coolmore on that later).

Better yet, place them in an airtight container in your pantry, and away from strong-smelling foods.

Doing so will buy you about two weeks before they begin to decline.

Should You Refrigerate Chocolate?

Or, you might turn to refrigeration if theexpiration dateis nearing.

You should only refrigerate chocolate if you absolutelyhaveto.

Sugar bloom is a white coating that appears on the outside of chocolate that has been exposed to moisture.

If your chocolate looks like its sweating, youve got a case of sugar bloom.

Sincefridges tend to be on the humid side, refrigeration can increase the chances of this occurring.

While its unsightly, chocolate that has developed sugar bloom is technically still edible.

Can You Freeze Chocolate?

you’re able to absolutely freeze chocolate.

Just place it in a freezer-safe and airtight container or bag.

Then, you canmove it to the freezer.

you might melt chocolate into a delicious fondue, make chocolate-covered fruit, or drizzle it on ice cream.

Or, make like the French and try theirviral hot chocolate.