The German supermarket chain Aldi recently had a special deal of a “wine-fridge” for $99. A wine fridge really isn’t that specialised for wine, it is merely a fridge that has a heater and is designed for temperatures in the 11C to 18C range. An good wine fridge will have special wood (or plastic if cheap) holders for wine bottles. A particularly cheap wine fridge (such as the one from Aldi) doesn’t even have special holders for wine bottles. But this does however make it more convenient for storing other things.
In the hotter days in summer outside temperatures of over 35C are common and it’s possible for an uncommonly hot day to be in excess of 45C. My home air-conditioning system is only able to keep the ambient temperature about 10C cooler than the outside temperature if there are a few hot days in a row.
According to the Wikipedia page the best chocolate is supposed to have type V crystals which melt at 34C [1]. So if the outside temperature is 45C then the temperature inside my home is almost guaranteed to be hot enough to melt chocolate. If I’m not at home (and therefore the air-conditioner is off) during a moderately hot day then it’s common to have a temperature of about 30C inside my house. The Wikipedia page also notes that moving chocolate between extremes of temperature can cause an oily texture and that storing chocolate in the fridge can cause a white discoloration. I’ve experienced these effects and find that they significantly decrease the enjoyment of chocolate.
So now I have a fridge in my computer room set to 16C because according to Wikipedia the ideal temperature range for storing chocolate is from 15C to 17C (the photo was taken shortly after turning it on and it hadn’t reached the correct temperature). Every computer room should have a fridge full of chocolate!
If my stockpile of chocolate reduces I may even put some wine in the fridge (I could probably fit some now if I organised the chocolate in a better way). But that depends on the supermarkets, if they have a special on Green and Black’s “Maya Gold” organic fair-trade chocolate then my fridge will become full again.
Not addicted, are you?
That is one sexy looking fridge!
Hehe, great idea…
when I’m stressed out for longer periods of time, I eat approx. one large chocolate(250g) a day. And drink a few liters of water or preferably tea.
But remember kids, no chocolate after teeth brushing..
Just the right temperature for brewing beer, even in summer. What are the internal dimensions?
that would also be ideal for keeping butter in over the hot months…leave it out in the heat and it melts. put it in the main fridge and it becomes rock hard. but a fridge set to around 16 degrees would be perfect.
Nice effort, but you can’t touch this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBRL7D0wcXM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_withdrawal_syndrome
John: Alcohol withdrawal can directly lead to death, I don’t think that any of the chemicals in chocolate operate in that way. Therefore it seems logical to suggest that I couldn’t be addicted to chocolate in the way that someone who uses such a fridge for it’s intended purpose might be addicted to alcohol. But seriously I don’t have headaches or anything when I don’t eat it for a day.
Dennis: Careful there, you might make my laptop jealous! ;)
Capn: The width is about 35.5cm, the height is about 41cm, and the depth is about 30cm. It’s designed for wine bottles laying end-on in four shelves and four bottles per shelf. I think that is about the minimum dimensions of any wine fridge. Less than 16 bottles wouldn’t be much use. 16 bottles is 12L of wine, but for a single cask of the right size you should be able to get about 20L of beer brewing in there.
craig: I’m sure that there are lots of uses for such things, as Capn suggests brewing beer would be a reasonable option. I think that a typical fridge is something below 8C with 4C being relatively common – at least near the top of the fridge where the cooling elements are. I can imagine people wanting to store cheeses and other things at a range of temperatures. I could imagine someone who is serious about food storage having one “wine fridge” at 11C and another at 18C so that different items can be stored at the ideal temperatures – 18C is a pretty good temperature for chocolate.
Anon: It’s sad that there are probably women who are impressed by such things.
“Every computer room should have a fridge full of chocolate!”
Welcome to my quotefile ;-)
Wouter: Please include a link to the source in the HTML version of your quote file. I have had trouble finding the sources for quotes in the past.