Chocolate use by date

foodlover

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18 Feb 2016
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Location
birmingham, UK
Hi

What is the use by date on chocolate?

I am sale shopping again and with Easter just gone I am thinking about getting some Easter styled chocolates for next year's Easter. My question is will the chocolate be okay to eat in a years time?
 
We regularly go to the Duty Free shop when we travel abroad and the usual purchases are imported chocolates. Our fridge in the bedroom is always full of chocolates of all kinds - Cadbury, Hershey's, Toblerone, Guylian, Lindt, etc. Obviously, we couldn't consume everything so what my husband does it to make an inventory every month. Those chocolates nearing expiration is brought to his office for consumption. There were times before that we found so many expired chocolates. It's a big waste, tsk, tsk.
 
Whenever I've dried chocolates after their use by date, I've regretted it. Their taste significantly changes, and I definitely don't like it. Better watch those expiration dates closely. Some chocolates might have a longer use by date, but I've noticed that most of them keep good for up to a year after their production date.
 
@foodlover, you could likely extend the use date of the chocolate by freezing it. Otherwise I do not think it would be good in a year. Not rotted or anything like that, but it will lose flavor and texture and be overall yukky.

@Corzhens you made me giggle thinking about your husband keeping an inventory of the chocolates! :giggle: You must really be lovers of chocolate!! I actually do not really like it, but my husband does.
 
That is a good question. I never thought about use by dates on chocolate because normally at my house it doesn't last that long! LIke Momma says, keeping it the freezer would make it last I did have some kind of baking chocolate bars here I kept for a long time, and I never worried about them expiring, but maybe they were meant to last longer. I am not sure.
 
I wouldnt buy it and eat it a year from now. Chocolate does not taste great when it is old. It gets white and just nasty in my opinion.
 
Local egg plant(chocolate) started production of eggs for next year before Easter this year.
Selection boxes were being stockpiled long before Easter.
 
I've had chocolate in ration packs many years out of date , like a imitation yorky bar , I'm still here!
But chocolate never lasts more than a day in our house, so it's never really a problem
 
If it gets left for too long it seems to go dry and white and loses it's flavour but oddly the eggs from our local supermarket all disappeared on the day after Easter [?!!] - no sell offs no deals nothing.
I actually do not really like it, but my husband does.
Just curious here - have you tried British chocolate - it is significantly different from that in the USA - odd but true.
 
Chocolate does not stay in our house long enough to worry about expiration dates no matter how much it is. There are two chocolate crazy people in this family.
 
According to one of the food safety sites, chocolate should keep for 6-8 months after the date on the packaging, if you store it in the freezer. I have never tried it as usually chocolate would never last that long in my house but, when I had a shop many years ago, the wholesalers used to stock easter eggs in August/September up to December so, by the time you add on 3-4 months till Easter that would be 8-9 months plus of course the time between when the manufacturer made them and supplies actually got to the wholesaler. I have got some chocolate easter bunnies that I use as ornaments in my kitchen. They are at least 9 years old, but I have no intention of unwrapping them to find out what state the chocolate is in. I would add that they are on a shelf above my oven and have not melted!
 
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