Chocolate Bunny in Fridge for 9 Months

by Concerned Aunt

News Flash! Chocolate Bunny in Fridge for 9 Months

My niece's husband stored his handmade chocolate bunny we made last Easter using Milk Chocolate Coating Wafers by Merkens, in the fridge for 9 months.


They just told me this today and now they are asking if it's still edible? How any one can wait that long without eating it is beyond me!


Also just curious, if he had left it out of the fridge instead would he be able to eat it?


I am asking because I usually don't use milk chocolate since I don't eat milk products, but my family wanted to make Bunnies from my vintage molds which turned out pretty well, but I know it has milk in it so I'm not sure how long it keeps.


Thank you!
Concerned Aunt

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Dear Concerned Aunt,

I completely share your wonder and amazement that anyone can manage to store a chocolate bunny in the fridge for 9 months and not eat it! :)


It's lucky to last nine days in my house, let alone nine months. They either have great restraint or a poor memory - grin!


To answer your questions, the chocolate is still perfectly edible as far as safety is concerned. Yes, they could have eaten it even if it had been left at room temperature for that length of time.


Commercially made chocolate has an incredibly long shelf life (years in fact) as long as it is stored carefully - and by that I mean away from fluctuating temperatures and odors, etc.


Even then, plain milk chocolate (or white or dark) doesn't really "go off" as you might think. If they had added other ingredients to it, there may be some cause for concern, but it sounds like they didn't - just melted and molded.


I will say this - the taste might reflect the age of the chocolate bunny. I would imagine in that 9 months that a lot of different foods have gone in and out of that fridge.


Chocolates absorb smells quite easily, so if the bunny wasn't tucked away in a nice airtight container, it may taste a little like something they had for dinner 6 weeks ago. :)


Report back and let us know what they thought of their gently age bunny!

Blessings,
Angie