On Mon, 7 Feb 2011 09:18:36 -0800 (PST), John Kuthe
> wrote:

>On Feb 7, 11:09*am, "Felice" > wrote:
>> On an impulse, I want to make a chocolate pudding that calls for unsweetened
>> baking chocolate, and all I have on hand is some Baker's that expired in
>> February 2009. So what can go wrong with unsweetened baking chocolate that's
>> been sitting quietly in my pantry for two years?
>>
>> Sure it's a couple of years past its expiration date, but so am I.
>>
>> Felice
>
>The fat in it can go rancid. Less likely if it's kept/stored cool/cold.

It's very rare that chocolate goes rancid, except for white
chocolate... kept dry at cool room temperature chocolate has about a
ten year shelf life... even if it develops a whitish film (bloom) it's
not in the least spoiled, that's just the cocoa butter migrating to
the surface. I think folks are going more than a little nuts with the
fercocktah expiration dates. Dark baking chocolate has like a twenty
year shelf life, even longer... if too much bloom develops that cocoa
butter can go rancid, but it can also be melted to reblend. I have a
big bar of dark Mexican chocolate in my kitchen cabinet for more than
thirty years, the kind used for Mexican hot chocolate, still perfectly
good. The only thing that needs an expiration date is a marriage
certificate.