Can You Eat Out of Date Chocolate?
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If you’ve found some leftover Christmas chocolates lurking at the back of a cupboard or a long-forgotten easter egg that didn’t get found in the annual Easter Egg hunt, you might be wondering ‘can you eat out of date chocolate?’ without it making you unwell?
It may surprise you that people actually end up having out-of-date chocolate. It’s certainly a rarity in our house! However, there are times when you might find some long forgotten and are wondering if it’s okay to eat. After all, it would be a shame to throw away perfectly good chocolate.
Can You Eat Out of Date Chocolate? Use By Vs Best Before
The first thing to know about chocolate is that it has a best-before date rather than a use-by date.
Use-by dates are typically used for raw and ready-to-eat foods that will go bad quickly. While I don’t stick to these dates rigidly, use-by does indicate that eating food after the use-by date could make you ill.
Conversely, best-before dates are more of an indication of quality. The chocolate will be at it’s best quality before that date, but can still be eaten safely afterwards.
For a more detailed guide, you can read my post about Use By vs Best Before. I think best before dates cause a lot of misunderstanding around food safety and are a huge cause of edible food being thrown away, which is terrible for the environment.
For the purposes of this article, I had a quick scout around my kitchen to see the average best-before date on some chocolate we had.
White chocolate buttons had fifteen months of shelf life on them while a white KitKat chunky had six months (although I think that might be more to do with the freshness of the wafer than the chocolate).
Personally, I’d be happy to eat chocolate that was one or even two years out of date provided the wrapping was still intact and not damaged in any way.
I actually regularly buy nearly out-of-date chocolate from Hotel Chocolat as it saves loads of money and is fine to eat for a long time after the best-before date.
How To Get Cheap and Free Hotel Chocolat
What Will Out of Date Chocolate Taste Like?
The biggest issue is that time can deteriorate the quality of the chocolate. So, if you unwrap some out-of-date chocolate it may look slightly different to how you expect.
The chocolate may have ‘bloomed’ meaning some of the milkfat can be seen in white speckles on the surface.
This is more likely to happen with chocolate that has a high dairy content. The taste may seem stale or not as strong or creamy as you expected. The texture may be dry.
The chocolate could also be perfect and taste exactly as you expect it to.
Chocolate with a higher cocoa content tends to last better, so generally speaking a chocolate bar with 70% or more cocoa solids will keep better for longer after the expiry date.
The main thing to bear in mind is that cocoa does lose its potency over time, so the further from best before date you are, the less strong the chocolate flavour will be.
Can Out-of-Date Chocolate Make You Ill?
It is very unlikely that out of date chocolate would make you ill.
The biggest risk comes from the dairy content of the chocolate – so if you are concerned then it’s best to avoid chocolate with a higher milk content.
I’d also recommend checking the packaging is unbroken.
One thing to consider is chocolate with a creme filling, such as the sort you get in boxes of mixed chocolates like Milk Tray.
The creme filling could go bad quicker than the chocolate on the outside depending on the sugar content and the dairy content of the filling.
Probably best avoided if they are a long time past the best-before date, for example over a year. A few weeks should be fine.
Chocolate which contains nuts should be fine to eat after the best-before date and won’t make you ill.
Do Easter Eggs Go Off?
Like all chocolate, Easter Eggs will eventually go off.
However, Easter Eggs should be fine to eat in the weeks and even months after Easter, provided they have been stored in a cool dry place.
I found a bag of leftover chocolate Eggs from last Easter recently which were still within their best-before date almost a year later!
Do Mini Eggs Go Off?
Mini Eggs will go off eventually but should be okay to eat for at least a year after their best-before date.
You may find the coloured shell on the eggs has started to fade slightly or has gone a little soft.
When To Avoid Eating Out of Date Chocolate
Generally speaking, it’s pretty safe to eat out-of-date chocolate and it’s extremely unlikely it will make you ill.
However, there are some occasions when you may wish to be extra cautious when it comes to eating any out-of-date food.
Below are a few examples of when eating out-of-date chocolate may not be the best idea.
- If you are pregnant.
- If you a very elderly.
- If you have a lowered immune system such as those with cancer or going through chemotherapy.
- Those under three years old.
- If you are recovering from a severe illness such as food poisoning.
- If you are very sensitive to dairy.
What To Do With Out-of-Date Chocolate
Well, of course, the first thing you can do with out of date chocolate it to at least try a small piece to check the quality. If it tastes fine, then go on ahead and eat it as you usually would.
If you think the flavour is a little lacking, then maybe the chocolate could be used up in a different way, such as in cooking or baking.
There are plenty of amazing chocolate recipes out there!
If the chocolate really does taste awful and there is no other use for it then chuck it into the food recycling rather than the general waste bin.
Related Posts:
Difference Between Best Before End and Use By
Is It Okay To Eat Potatoes That Have Sprouted?
How To Get Cheap and Free Hotel Chocolat
