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.
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?
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.
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.
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
