How to successfully mail chocolate

Chocolate gifts are perhaps the tastiest gifts anyone could hope to receive. However, the problem with chocolate gifts is making sure they don’t melt before they reach their destination.

This is quite easy if you are hand delivering your chocolate gifts. But if, on the other hand, you plan to mail them, that’s another story. Here are some tips to help you make sure your chocolate treats don’t break when handled and make sure they don’t turn into chocolate soup treats:

· If you’re mailing a candy bar and you don’t want it to break, try taping a piece of stiff cardboard to the back and then wrapping it in a piece of bubble wrap.

If you plan to send a chocolate gift during the winter, it will probably stay good and not melt. If, on the other hand, you’re expecting your chocolate gift to arrive rock solid in California in the heat of August, you need to think again. Avoid sending chocolate in times of extreme heat.

· Instead of sending chocolate gifts filled with truffles and candy bars, consider sending brownies and/or cookies (but save the chocolate-dipped cookies for the colder months). If you decide to mail cookies, choose ones that don’t break easily, such as those that fall off. Package them in a foil-lined tin or small box. Put sheets of waxed paper between the cookie layers. Protect the cookie tin or box inside the shipping carton with plastic bags (or similar material). Check the box with “perishable food”. Also write at the top, “this side up” to encourage careful handling.

· If you are shipping other items along with your chocolate, place your chocolate in a zip lock bag (and vacuum out all the air) to ensure that if it melts, nothing else is ruined.

· Pay a little extra to ship your chocolate overnight, or at least ship it 2-3 day priority. The sooner it gets there, the less likely it is to melt first.

· Make sure the recipient will be home when you receive it. If your box has to wait on the doorstep in the sun, the chocolate is bound to melt! Maybe even ask for a signature.

If it’s not a delicate chocolate, freeze it before packaging it for mailing. It won’t stay frozen, but your chocolate treats will take longer to melt.

Pack your chocolate gifts with frozen gel packs, dry ice, or another cold source. If you use dry ice, write in the box “contains dry ice” to warn recipients. Be sure to pack the chocolate in a ziplock bag so it doesn’t directly touch the dry ice and you don’t touch the ice with your bare hands. Write “keep refrigerated” on the outside of the box.

Ship your chocolate gift package at the beginning of the week to ensure it doesn’t get left behind at the shipping center over the weekend.

· Send chocolate that is already melted! In other words, why not send a delicious chocolate sauce or fondue chocolate?