# Bars of Chocolate



## Shipbuilder

This doesn't really come under "galley" but as you can eat it, I suppose it is near enough.

When I first went to sea, I purchased a bar of chocolate from the onboard shop. (None-air conditioned ship). When I opened it, it was covered in leprous white splotches. Took it back to chief steward and he told me it was always like that, the heat did it. That it would taste OK and do me no harm. I found this to be true and continued to eat it, white spots and all for several years (never suffering any consequences) until I got on air-conditioned ships when it was of normal appearance. 

Mentioned it today to my wife who was quite horrified, suggesting it was mould. I don't think it was, but any idea what chemical changes were occuring in it to make it look so awful?


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## eriskay

No - not mould - used to often see the same thing in the Middle East when there was no air-conditioning. Completely harmless, cannot remember the precise cause for the transformation but as I recall it's what happens naturally to cocoa/chocolate when exposed to certain temperature / humidity conditions.


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## stein

There is white chocolate to be had, maybe there is a relation between it and those white spots?


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## Lewis

Fat bloom is when the cocoa butter changes texture due to too warm of a temperature (above 75°). It can also be the sugar in the chocolate. 

You've probably seen a chocolate bar that has melted and then hardened again. It looks a bit streaked and greyish white.

Shouldn't do you any harm, just taste a bit stale.


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## Shipbuilder

As far as I recall, it tasted fine and I certainly never suffered any ill effects, but it did look pretty awful. The shop area must have been over 100 degrees in the tropics, I think it was down aft somewhere (JOYA MCCANCE, ore carrier).


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## Pat Kennedy

Shipbuilder said:


> As far as I recall, it tasted fine and I certainly never suffered any ill effects, but it did look pretty awful. The shop area must have been over 100 degrees in the tropics, I think it was down aft somewhere (JOYA MCCANCE, ore carrier).


Shipbuilder, I worked on that Joya Mc Cance when she was drydocked in Birkenhead, late 60s I think.
Talking to some of the crowd, they said she would roll on wet grass, and they were glad to be in drydock where she would finally stay still.
Regards, 
Pat(Wave)


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## Shipbuilder

Hi Pat,
May not have been the same one. They renamed JOYA MCCANCE ST. MARGARET some time in the 60s I think and gave the name JOYA MCCANCE to their newly acquired tanker BEAUVAL. But the JOYA MCCANCE ore carrier did roll a lot and did not go very fast either. We were oten on 9 knots charter speed, but the official service speed was 13 knots. very strongly built though, maindeck was 1.25 inch steel. The iron ore cargo was isolated from the outer hull plating by 18 feet on each side, the holds being the same with as the hatch covers!
Bob


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## Thats another Story

i seem to remember someone coming up with chocolate covered salt tablets yes its true went down well in the far east{ iff you could get them out of the big jar they came in}.john


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## Pat McCardle

Maybe the Chief steward was a 'Belly Robber' & he had been trying to squeeze the milk out of it?


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## Ray Mac

Pat McCardle said:


> Maybe the Chief steward was a 'Belly Robber' & he had been trying to squeeze the milk out of it?


Now Now Pat(Pint)(Pint)

Ray[=D]


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## surfaceblow

I have had the same white spots on chocolates when the slop chest was located in the non Air Conditioned areas on the ship. My local chocolate lover (wife) states that it is due to sugar or fat blooms. The sugar bloom will feel grainy while the fat bloom would feel oily and melt when touched. Both are due to high temperature and humidity variations and are not harmful when eaten. 

Joe


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## jaigee

JOHN PRUDEN said:


> i seem to remember someone coming up with chocolate covered salt tablets yes its true went down well in the far east{ iff you could get them out of the big jar they came in}.john


With experience you soon learnt to just suck off enough chocolate and swallow them before you broke through to the salt. [=P]


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## E.Martin

Mould!!,on a drifter in the forties after a few days at sea before eating bread you had to cut the green mould off,you did have a choice,that or nothing.
Herring for breakfast every morning again you did have a choice,bread and jam.
The cook only cooked breakfast and dinner as he would be down the rope room coiling the ropes when we were hauling.


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## Ron Stringer

surfaceblow said:


> The sugar bloom will feel grainy while the fat bloom would feel oily and melt when touched. Both are due to high temperature and humidity variations and are not harmful when eaten.
> 
> Joe


Joe is right, it is the variations that cause the white spots (or even for the chocolate bar to turn completely white) rather than just the temperature. Prior to going to sea I worked in a warehouse that stocked all the raw materials for Wall's Ice Cream and also for their meat products. The chocolate was stored below ground in a dedicated room that was maintained at a constant temperature, somewhere around 80°F (if I remember correctly). It arrived in a large van in packs of 4 twenty- pound blocks and was delivered to the chocolate store by a roller-conveyor. Two of us stood stripped to the waist, stood in the room at the foot of the conveyor and took the 80-pound packs off it and stacked it carefully. By the time we had unloaded the normal 14-ton delivery we were definitely ready for a tea break.


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## Pat Kennedy

JOHN PRUDEN said:


> i seem to remember someone coming up with chocolate covered salt tablets yes its true went down well in the far east{ iff you could get them out of the big jar they came in}.john


I saw chocolate covered ants in the Far East, I think Singapore. They were considered a delicacy.
Pat(Eat)


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## Pat McCardle

Burned Toast said:


> Now Now Pat(Pint)(Pint)
> 
> Ray[=D]


There are exceptions, Ray!! I was thinking of some Stevie Clarkes men.............Doh!!!(EEK)(Thumb)


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## John Briggs

I remember as cadets, changing the life boat rations. Out of date chocolate, condensed milk and barley sugar were the rewards.
All of them had major defects but were devoured thankfully by we cadets.
The chocolate bars were completely white on the outside!


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## captain61

Pat Kennedy said:


> I saw chocolate covered ants in the Far East, I think Singapore. They were considered a delicacy.
> Pat(Eat)


You can get them over here now and other things worms spiders etc Selfridges in Manchester has them, the ants tasted of Bovril twigglets i didnt like them the wife did

Stephen


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## Ray Mac

John Briggs said:


> I remember as cadets, changing the life boat rations. Out of date chocolate, condensed milk and barley sugar were the rewards.
> All of them had major defects but were devoured thankfully by we cadets.
> The chocolate bars were completely white on the outside!


Out of date Conni Honni for galley use(Pint) keep the feeding rate down(Bounce)

Ray


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## JoK

E.Martin said:


> Mould!!,on a drifter in the forties after a few days at sea before eating bread you had to cut the green mould off,you did have a choice,that or nothing.
> Herring for breakfast every morning again you did have a choice,bread and jam.
> The cook only cooked breakfast and dinner as he would be down the rope room coiling the ropes when we were hauling.


In the Arctic, after about 6 weeks, the bologna was served in octagonal shape. That was the green being cut off the edges.


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## trotterdotpom

The correct terminology is "Michael Jackson Syndrome".

John T.


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