Is this what happens to old, white chocolate???

[The other Sven]

We came across an issue with white chocolate not melting properly and I am wondering if anyone knows why this might be happening. We had some older (2+ years) white chocolate (Cacao Barry Zephyr), that was at least a year past its use by date. So we were going to use it to make some peppermint bark - but it just refused to melt properly. We eventually tried adding some cocoa butter, which helped, but not enough. I am attaching some pictures. 

 

 

We are pretty certain that it has to do with the age of the chocolate, because using a fresh batch of Zephyr worked just fine (though I'd hate to waste that on peppermint bark - sorry, not a fan). Again, mostly curious about what changes in the chocolate that keeps it from melting. 

 

Thanks, and Happy Holidays.

[Kerry Beal]

1 minute ago, The other Sven said:

We came across an issue with white chocolate not melting properly and I am wondering if anyone knows why this might be happening. We had some older (2+ years) white chocolate (Cacao Barry Zephyr), that was at least a year past its use by date. So we were going to use it to make some peppermint bark - but it just refused to melt properly. We eventually tried adding some cocoa butter, which helped, but not enough. I am attaching some pictures. 

 

 

We are pretty certain that it has to do with the age of the chocolate, because using a fresh batch of Zephyr worked just fine (though I'd hate to waste that on peppermint bark - sorry, not a fan). Again, mostly curious about what changes in the chocolate that keeps it from melting. 

 

Thanks, and Happy Holidays.

If it was open to the air - It likely has taken on moisture.

 

You might get away with adding a buttload of melted cocoa butter to it - or you might not!

[The other Sven]

Ok, that makes sense. The container it was stored in is allegedly airtight, but I don't think it's 100%. 

 

And as I said, the cocoa butter helped, but I guess we could have tried adding more. I really like the flavor of the Zephyr and didn't want to go crazy...but then again, it was going to be used for peppermint bark...so it probably wouldn't have mattered. 😉

 

Thanks for the quick response, Doc. Mystery solved.