Chocolate Cooling Refrigerators
Hi! I was wondering if I could get any advice on Commercial Refrigerators for cooling chocolate bars? I was looking into double-door ones with multiple slots for racks. We are located in Southern California. Thank you in advance!
Many commercial refrigeration solutions are not well adapted to cooling chocolate because a) they are the wrong temperature range, b) they do not control humidity, c) there is insufficient airflow in the cabinet to remove the latent heat of crystallization.
For chocolate crystallization and short-term storage you want temperature of about 53-55F (12-13C) and you want humidity about 55%RH.
This really does require refrigeration built for this purpose. There are commercial refrigerators you can buy and there are companies that build them to order, and the cost depends, in large part, on the number of trays that can be accommodated at the same time – 20-24 should be considered minimum. Brands include Everlasting (available through a UK dealer) and Tecnomac (who does have a US dealer).
Built to order solutions can be upright or undercounter, where the undercounter solution enables you to but a worktable (e.g., a marble slab) on top of the unit, potentially saving a lot of space. Alternative Air in New Jersey is a good supplier for custom cooling cabinets.
If you like I can refer you to any of the above.