# What happens when chocolate expires?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 13, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905 "2007-06-13T21:11:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/21 "2007-06-15T17:11:22Z")

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And just a clarification: cocoa butter is one of the rare fats that does not get rancid, so chocolate that does not have any other fats will not have the latter problem. (This type of chocolate is also known as ‘real’, ‘good’, or even ‘real good’ chocolate.)

Cocoa butter has multiple applications (eg. cosmetics/beauty creams), and is expensive and in high demand, so some candy makers cut costs by substituting cheaper fats for some or all of the cocoa butter in their so-called ‘chocolate’. But real chocolate will remain edible pretty much forever if stored at room temperature or colder and carefully wrapped against moisture. It won’t be as delicious as when it was fresh, but it will never be _nasty_.

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/22 "2007-06-16T01:11:55Z")

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[QUOTE=everywill]  
Bread gets stale, cream goes sour, fruit rots. But what happens to an unopened bar of chocolate left on a department store shelf?  
[/QUOTE]

It makes the baby Flying Spaghetti Monster cry.

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/23 "2007-06-16T01:18:59Z")

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[QUOTE=chowder]  
\>\>just a tiny hi-jack\<\<

Pal of mine, a postal worker, delivered mail to a house were the dog was forever lurking behind the mailbox waiting to bite his fingers. Asking the householders to restrain the dog didn’t work, they seemed to think it funny.

One day he bought a 1lb block of laxative chocolate and fed it through the mailbox one piece at a time, the result, I hear, was wall to wall shit, shit on the carpet, shit on the furniture..shit, shit everywhere  
[/QUOTE]

**response to tiny hijack**

Uh, your friend DID know that chocolate (at least regular chocolate) is poisonous to dogs, right? Was he intending to KILL the dog?

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**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/24 "2007-06-16T03:43:04Z")

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Woooww. Ch **o** colate! Half-priced.

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/25 "2007-06-16T03:48:43Z")

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[QUOTE=Leaper]  
**response to tiny hijack**

Uh, your friend DID know that chocolate (at least regular chocolate) is poisonous to dogs, right?  
[/QUOTE]

Is that really true? I’ve heard this before, but it sounds like an Urban Legend. Has anyone here actually had or known of a dog that died from eating chocolate?

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/26 "2007-06-16T04:40:31Z")

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According to some links I’ve found, the danger is perhaps not as big as I thought, but still extremely possible:

[First hijacky link](http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa030&articleID=7977C326-E7F2-99DF-3D761C503072A5EB)

[Second hijacky link](http://www.howstuffworks.com/question348.htm)

[Third hijacky link](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.talktothevet.com%2FARTICLES%2FDOGS%2Fchocolatetoxic.HTM&ei=CGlzRqOzPIG2igGk5OTsCA&usg=AFQjCNG_DPjCtjPTZ6rDwbwENtkCqv4qnQ&sig2=RF-ID2k6a9PRZhhnoubGLA)

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/27 "2007-06-16T04:57:57Z")

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That second link reminds me of one time as a child when I made myself REALLY sick through a chocolate overdose. Puked for a whole day.

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**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/28 "2007-06-16T06:57:15Z")

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[QUOTE=Leaper]  
**response to tiny hijack**

Uh, your friend DID know that chocolate (at least regular chocolate) is poisonous to dogs, right? Was he intending to KILL the dog?  
[/QUOTE]

I doubt it but if the dog had been able to get out it sure would have tried to kill him

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/29 "2007-06-16T11:01:36Z")

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[QUOTE=chowder]  
lurking behind the mailbox waiting to bite his fingers  
[/quote]

> [@chowder](#):
>
> if the dog had been able to get out

Your first post suggested that this dog was on the loose, so I held my tongue, but your second post indicates that the dog was, in fact, contained in some way. So your friend’s response to a contained animal causing him a minor nuisance was a particularly revolting bit of animal cruelty? Sounds like a real swell guy.

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**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/30 "2007-06-16T11:23:01Z")

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[QUOTE=Leaper]  
According to some links I’ve found, the danger is perhaps not as big as I thought, but still extremely possible:

[First hijacky link](http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa030&articleID=7977C326-E7F2-99DF-3D761C503072A5EB)

[Second hijacky link](http://www.howstuffworks.com/question348.htm)

[Third hijacky link](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.talktothevet.com%2FARTICLES%2FDOGS%2Fchocolatetoxic.HTM&ei=CGlzRqOzPIG2igGk5OTsCA&usg=AFQjCNG_DPjCtjPTZ6rDwbwENtkCqv4qnQ&sig2=RF-ID2k6a9PRZhhnoubGLA)  
[/QUOTE]

Or… [you could just have asked the Master](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_211.html)😃

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**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/31 "2007-06-16T12:01:25Z")

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[QUOTE=KneadToKnow]  
Your first post suggested that this dog was on the loose, so I held my tongue, but your second post indicates that the dog was, in fact, contained in some way.  
[/QUOTE]

Seeing as **chowder** is a Brit it’s likely that the dog was both on the loose \*and \* contained. We mostly don’t have external mailboxes, we have letterboxes (slots) in our front doors. The dog’ll have been waiting behind the door to bite the fingers of the postman pushing the mail through. It’s a common complaint from UK posties.

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**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-chocolate-expires/407905/32 "2007-06-16T15:07:26Z")

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Thank you **Struan**

And for what it’s worth I have also known posties place a piece of roofing tile between letters, again to teach the dog and its owners that having your fingers chewed while doing your job is not funny.

As for myself, when I was a postie I simply would not deliver the mail until such time as the owners kept the dog well away from the letterbox.

I found this far more effective as having to go pick up your own mail each day is less than convenient

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