Search-led / Field guides

Straight answers,
with the evidence attached.

Direct, source-backed answers to the questions people actually ask about chocolate: bloom, storage, fermentation and what single-origin does and does not prove.

The guides

Four questions, answered in full

Each guide opens with the short answer, works through the mechanism, gives you a table to keep beside the wrapper, and lists every source it used with its review date.

Quality / Diagnosis · 9 minute read

Chocolate bloom: safe, stale or spoiled?

White streaks or a dusty surface on chocolate are often fat bloom or sugar bloom. They usually signal a texture and storage defect, but appearance alone cannot rule out contamination.

Open the guide ↗Storage / Practice · 8 minute read

How to store chocolate: stable, sealed, odor-free.

Store chocolate in a cool, dry, dark place with a stable temperature and a tight barrier against humidity and odors. Refrigerate only when the room makes careful cupboard storage impossible.

Open the guide ↗Origin / Buying · 10 minute read

Single-origin chocolate: place without mythology.

Single-origin chocolate uses cacao attributed to a defined place, but the size of that place and the evidence behind the claim vary. Origin can guide comparison; it cannot guarantee flavor, quality or ethics.

Open the guide ↗Post-harvest / Microbiology · 11 minute read

Cacao fermentation: how flavor begins.

Cacao fermentation is a managed microbial succession around fresh seeds. It removes pulp, kills the seed and creates precursors that roasting can later turn into recognizable chocolate aroma.

Open the guide ↗Safety / Companion animals · 9 minute read

Chocolate and dogs: the dose is the danger.

Chocolate is toxic to dogs because they clear theobromine far more slowly than people do. The risk depends on the dog's weight and the type of chocolate, not on whether chocolate was eaten at all.

Open the guide ↗Composition / Physiology · 8 minute read

Caffeine in chocolate: less than you think.

Chocolate contains caffeine, but far less than coffee, and its dominant stimulant is theobromine. Here is what the composition data actually shows, per hundred grams and per realistic serving.

Open the guide ↗Evidence / Nutrition claims · 9 minute read

Cocoa flavanols: one narrow authorised claim.

Dark chocolate is widely described as healthy. Exactly one cocoa claim is authorised in the EU, it is far narrower than the headlines, and most chocolate does not meet its conditions.

Open the guide ↗Dates / Storage · 8 minute read

Does chocolate expire? Read the date correctly.

Most chocolate carries a best-before date about quality, not a use-by date about safety. Knowing which one you are reading, and what actually degrades, decides whether to eat it or bin it.

Open the guide ↗Technique / Crystallization · 10 minute read

How to temper chocolate: one crystal form wins.

Tempering is not stirring ritual. It is deliberate crystal selection in cocoa butter, and understanding which form you are trying to grow makes every method on the internet legible.

Open the guide ↗Categories / Standards · 9 minute read

Types of chocolate: categories, not a ladder.

Dark, milk, white, ruby, couverture, baking, compound, gianduja. What separates them is composition defined by standards, and almost none of it is a statement about quality.

Open the guide ↗Categories / Recent history · 8 minute read

Ruby chocolate: pink, and legitimately puzzling.

Ruby chocolate is pink without added colour and tastes sour without added fruit. What is verifiable about it, what remains proprietary, and why its legal status differs by country.

Open the guide ↗