Why Chocolate Turns White
Chances are if you live in Australia, and have ever kept a bar of chocolate in the cupboard for a little too long over summer you’ve found yourself confused as to why it’s turned white. Welcome to Chocolate Bloom.
What is Chocolate Bloom?
Chocolate Bloom is a phenomenon where the fat within the chocolate has moved to the surface, creating white mould like patterns. Making if you ask us, some of the most interesting chocolate art there is!
Why does Chocolate Bloom happen?
Chocolate Bloom occurs as a result of four main things;
Incorrect Tempering. Leaving some type 4 crystals within the mass during setting.
Incorrect Storage. Leaving chocolate in warm areas, or places of high temperature fluctuation.
Migration of other fats. Mixing chocolate with other soft fats (like in a nut based filling.) Over time the fats try to reach a point of equilibrium by exchanging particles with each other.
It’s inevitable. Yes, you read that right! :( Over time, all chocolate will eventually become untempered. As it does, the change in structure creates a small (but mighty) amount of heat energy which causes the bloom to occur.
Bloom vs Blush
It’s pretty common for people to misinterpret Chocolate Bloom and Sugar Blush for one another. Traditionally they’re both called bloom, which we think is one of the reasons for it.
Chocolate Bloom is noticeable as intricate white patterns on the surface of chocolate.
Whereas Sugar Blush can be identified as the chocolate greying over the entire surface and appearing to sweat. The tell tale sign is that if you wipe your finer over blushed chocolate, it will look normal again for a few minutes, before turning grey again.
Sugar Blush is a similar phenomenon to Chocolate Bloom, but is a migration of the sugar particles inside the chocolate, rather than the fat.
Does Chocolate Bloom affect the taste?
Chocolate Bloom will not affect the flavour of chocolate. It will have a chalky texture when you eat it though. You can re-melt and re-temper bloomed chocolate to overcome this.
Sugar Blush does not affect the flavour of chocolate, nor the texture of it. This is because sugar is a much smaller particle than fat in chocolate, and does not crystallise at various consistencies; meaning once it has been refined to a smooth particle size it stays that way!
How can you prevent Chocolate Bloom?
The best way to prevent Chocolate Bloom is to make sure that you are storing Chocolates correctly, and only for short periods of time. Eat it, don’t hoard it.