Does chocolate belong in a fridge?
Experts say chocolate tastes best at room temperature.
What you need to know
Between 80 and 90 million chocolate Easter eggs are sold in the UK every year.
A report found that in 2023 alone, chocolate sales in the UK were expected to be worth around £7 billion.
According to many chocolate experts, the best way to store chocolate is in a cool, dark place at a temperature between 18oC and 20oC.
The average fridge temperature is much lower – between 3oC and 5oC – but a survey published by the chocolate brand Galaxy in 2022 found that 78% of adults prefer to keep their chocolate in the fridge.
This Easter weekend, millions of chocolate eggs will be eaten all over the UK. Many of these will have been stored in cupboards and others will be hidden around gardens for Easter egg hunts. However, lots of people like to eat chocolate cold from the fridge. Chocolate company Cadbury says a cupboard is the best place to store chocolate, so it’s out of sunlight and “slightly cool, dry and dark”. Chocolate expert Elias Laderach says that refrigerating chocolate masks its flavour. You can always check this for yourself, says Laderach, with an experiment: put one piece of chocolate in a cupboard and another in the fridge, and then taste them. However, many people simply prefer the taste of chilly chocolate. So what do you think, does chocolate belong in a fridge?
Yes – it keeps it cool and crisp
Lots of people like to keep their chocolate in the fridge because it’s common sense. Chocolate melts easily and then it becomes a sticky mess and gets all over your fingers. As temperatures rise in spring and summer, it’s better to be on the safe side and keep chocolate in a fridge. Besides, chocolate is much more enjoyable when eaten straight from the fridge.
The cold makes it lovely and cool to touch, and more snappable and enjoyable. Plus, cold chocolate takes longer to melt in your mouth than room temperature chocolate, which makes eating it even better. It doesn’t matter what experts say, eating chocolate from the fridge is just delicious – especially if it has a caramel centre because then it goes chewy.
No – it spoils the taste
Experts are clear that keeping chocolate in a cupboard, not a fridge, is the best thing for it. You wouldn’t keep milk or meat in a cupboard, against expert advice, so why would you ignore them when it comes to chocolate? Eating chocolate at room temperature allows all the wonderful flavours to be released. Refrigerating chocolate can spoil its flavour and also affects its appearance. A sudden change in temperature, from warm to cold, can change the colour of chocolate as well as making it look chalky. Besides, keeping chocolate in the fridge can make it quite hard to eat – it can even hurt your teeth if it’s chunky enough. Chocolate should be easy to nibble and melt instantly in your mouth.