Can chocolate go bad?

[sjc]

We have some old chocolate chips at my house, white and regular, and I took a handful and ate some of the white-chocolate chips. They tasted pretty bad. I tried so me of the regular ones and they tasted a bit better but still a little off.

When I mentioned this one of my housemates said that chocolate doesn’t really go bad, it just “blooms”. And she said that the chocoalte chips tasted fine to her.

Now I believe her, but I’d like the straight dope on chocolate. What happens to it as it ages? Why did these taste bad? Is it that chocolate doesn’t go bad to the point where it is a health risk but can end up tasting a bit off?

(The chocolate chips I ate had milk in them)

[Duckster]

Solid chocolate products will maintain their freshness if well wrapped and stored in a cool, dry place (55–60°F). Cocoa is considered a non-perishable item which should maintain freshness if stored at room temperature in a tightly sealed container.

Source: http://www.hersheys.com/consumer/storechocolate.shtml

Of course, this is an official company line, but it’s a good place to start
Tips for Keeping Your Chocolate at Its Best!

Chocolate sometimes turns whitish-gray, when improperly stored. This is known as ‘bloom’ and occurs when the cocoa butter crystals, within the chocolate bar, melt and migrate to the surface of the chocolate. A piece of chocolate that has bloomed, is not spoiled, but its texture is impaired.

Source: http://www.wfchocolate.com/didyouknow.html

FYI - White chocolate is not chocolate.

I’ve eaten chocolate that’s been years old, left in the sun and melted and become hard again. While some of it does indeed “bloom” it didn’t go “off.”

Chocolate like any other food may become contaminated and make you ill.

[tracer]

I have a piece of “personalized” milk chocolate shaped like a computer.

It is 10 years old.

It bloomed a long time ago. Some of the cocoa butter must have oozed out, because the underside was “greasy” when I took it out of its box.

It is now hard as a rock. I don’t think a human being could eat such a thing, except as a bar bet.

[susan]

Can chocolate go bad?

Sure, if it hangs with the wrong crowd (e.g., candy cigarettes).

[wonky]

I’m assuming all of the moisture gets leached out of it by the air, but all I know is that I had an ancient bag of chocolate chips that turned to grey chips, to grey crumbles, and thence to grey-brown dust.

[YWalker]

My father is a child of the depression who likes to buy large quantities of things when he finds them at a good price. When we go to visit him for the Fourth of July, for example, we may find the Halloween m&m’s purchased on sale the previous October (or perhaps the one before? :eek: ) in his candy jar.

From personal experience, I can attest that chocolate can develop a rather stale taste.

And speaking of things that can go bad if stored a while ---- did you know that soft drinks can evaporate from inside the cans? When we go down to his basement to bring up some drinks (purchased when he found them on a killer sale some time in the previous year or five), it’s not at all unusual to pick up a sealed can which is empty or only half-filled.

[Skywatcher]

@YWalker

And speaking of things that can go bad if stored a while ---- did you know that soft drinks can evaporate from inside the cans?

I did. Then again, I once temped at a Coca Cola warehouse for a couple of days. Part of my job was getting rid of weak/dented cans.