Valentine’s Day. It’s is all about love. Seems fitting that hey… so are we! Hence, why we produce the one confection that pretty much says all there is to say in terms of love. Chocolate – or more specifically for this particular holiday, chocolate covered strawberries! Red, ripe, chocolate covered strawberries are great for all kinds of crazy love, such as: friendly love, family love, respectful love, appreciative love, sympathetic love, self love, and of course, romantic love.
We tend to think a lot in terms of what sort of love these luscious delicacies are for, but what about the love that goes in to these sumptuous sweets?
There are a lot of caring steps involved in delivering you and your loved ones the best of the best in terms of chocolate covered strawberries. Some are undertaken by ourselves, and others by those with whom we choose to work.
So, here’s a little timeline snapshot of your Valentine’s Day berries in how they get from the farm to your, or your loved one’s, heart!
First, being outside of our strawberry growing season here in Western PA, the strawberries are grown in California’s temperate region, are picked on a Saturday, then freighted the same day to arrive at our local distributor on Monday.
Depending upon which day the holiday falls, we either pick up our reserved flats immediately or allow them to remain in store until day before dipping.
Once brought to our kitchen, they are thoroughly washed in special high-alkalinity water to remove any pesticides, dirt, or all other residues that don’t belong. They are then spread out on a flat surface in a clean, cool environment to air dry.
The very next morning, before the sun rise, they are individually hand dipped in our signature Belgian chocolate, and topped with the appropriate toppings.
Finally, they are boxed and ribboned for presentation to our lovely customers!
I make it sound easy, don’t I? But the truth is, it takes a lot of love and a lot of life-force to conjure up these fabulous confections for that one very special day – for everyone’s very special someones. All in all, to see the faces of mostly grown men, light up, when they pick up their Princess or Queen box of chocolate covered strawberries for their sweetheart – well, that makes it so worth it!