Chocolate, when not stored properly, can lose its richness and flavour may become stale. It's very sensitive to humidity and temperature. Proper storage and packing is necessary to preserve your freshest and taste and its beautiful aroma.
The ideal storage temperature for chocolate is between 15 and 17 ° C (59 to 63 ° F) with a humidity of less than 50%. Chocolate is also easily absorbed by the aroma and should be stored separately from other foods, especially those with strong aromas such as herbs, spices, onions, garlic and meat. This is the reason why dark, white and milk chocolates are carefully and tightly wrapped in foil, so as to avoid absorbing moisture and other foreign elements.
Usually the reason why you are told not to keep the chocolate in the fridge is because it does not have a very long shelf life and should be consumed in the short order, which can be the case with bonbons or when you take it out of the fridge, condensation will form and cause sugar bloom. (The sugar bloom looks like dull blotches and spots that are rough to the touch.
Besides the moisture in the refrigerator potentially leading to ‘‘Sugar Bloom’’, humidity is not a good friend of chocolate either. If you keep the chocolate in the refrigerator and then remove it at room temperature, condensation will form on the outside of the chocolate. Sugar, being a "water lover," will absorb condensation. Eventually, the moisture will evaporate, but will leave behind the sugar. And this sugar will be recrystallized on the surface of the chocolate and shown as a whitish surface (which has no effect on flavor, but does not seem too appealing though).
For the problem of condensation, the slower you let the chocolate get to room temperature, the less likely it will form the condensation. If you have chocolate in the fridge and it is 80 degrees out, I recommend wrapping the (already wrapped) chocolate in a dish towel or some other insulating barrier, this will disperse the chill from chocolate more slowly and minimize condensation.
TIPS FOR STORING YOUR CHOCOLATES
Don’t Refrigerate: chocolate easily absorbs odours of whatever in the refrigerator. Moisture in the fridge can also lead to "sugar bloom", which means that sugar rises to the surface and discolours the chocolate (which has no effect on flavour but doesn't seem too attractive). So instead of fridge:
Store in a cool or dry place: when the chocolate is kept at a consistent temperature of less than 70 °F (ideally between 65 and 68 °F), and the humidity below 55%, the emulsion of cocoa solids and cocoa butter will remain stable for months.
Seal them in an airtight container: oxygen does exactly what you expect, oxidizes chocolate, which causes less than ideal flavours to develop.
Get away from the light: Not only sunlight (unless you want to make fondue), but also artificial light.
Sometimes you have to refrigerate when the weather is hot because, not everyone uses air conditioning. But before placing chocolate in the refrigerator, first wrap it firmly to protect it from smell and condensation, and then seal it in an airtight container. When you remove it, let it return to room temperature before unwrapping. This will keep your chocolate edible for anywhere from three to six months.
In conclusion, the only time you should resort to keeping your precious chocolate in the refrigerator is if the temperature inside your home reaches 28 degrees, but it must be in the airtight container cocoa butter absorbs the flavours and odours or instead, chocolate should be stored in a cool and dark cupboard, preferably between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius with 15 degrees being the perfect temperature.