Passion for Chocolate - Love Connection

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To find out how chocolate became part and parcel of Valentine’s Day celebrations, we need to dive back into the history annals. What seems a natural pairing actually took centuries to merge. The origin of Valentine’s Day is attributed to various early Christian martyrs named Valentine,

and, although particulars are a bit murky, the stories pertaining to St. Valentine all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and romantic figure. Likely due to this reputation, by the Middle Ages, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.

Some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial, which most likely occurred around A.D. 270, while others argue that the Christian church decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan fertility festival of Lupercalia. This celebration,   dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, and Roman founders Romulus and Remus was held on the ides of February, or February 15, and involved the matching of young women with bachelors for marriage. It appears the occasion was first linked to romantic love in Geoffrey Chaucer’s 1382 poem, “Parlement of Foules.” He remarked on the nature of love and the commonly held belief in England and France that February 14 marked the beginning of mating season for birds in verse, “every bird cometh to choose his mate” on “Seynt Voantynes day.”

In the centuries that followed, Valentine’s Day blossomed in popularity as a late winter-early

spring holiday. The occasion was celebrated with song, poetry, roses, and cards, but because sugar was still a precious commodity in Europe, candy was not part of the observation. That would change in 1861, thanks to the marketing brilliance of Richard Cadbury. 

British chocolate makers, Cadbury, had invented a method to make a more palatable drinking chocolate. Richard Cadbury was searching for a way to use the pure cocoa butter that was extracted from that process. His solution: “eating chocolates,”  delicious morsels that were packaged in lovely boxes he designed himself. In a master stroke of marketing genius, Cadbury adorned heart-shaped boxes with Cupids and rosebuds, suggesting that after the chocolates had been eaten, these beautiful boxes could be used to hold love letters and other special momentos.

In the U.S., commercialization of Valentine’s Day flourished around the turn of the century, coinciding with the time Milton Hershey began mass-producing affordable chocolate bars. In 1907, Hershey applied automation to create a new product almost ear-marked for the romantic

holiday: the tear-dropped shaped “Kiss.” Obviously the most marketable thing about this Hershey’s confection around Valentine’s Day is its name. Hershey trademarked “Kiss” specifically in 2000, but disputes remain over its origin. The company’s explanation: the nozzle of the equipment that produces the candy makes a kissing sound as it dispenses the chocolate onto the belt. But historians say that the term was actually popularly used for candies wrapped with a twist as early as the 1820s and the 1856 Webster’s Dictionary defines the word as “a small piece of confectionary.” Hershey eventually won its hard fought battle for the Kiss trademark by proving via consumer survey that the public almost exclusively associates the word “kiss” with their brand. Now, wrapped in multi-colored foils for different holidays, Hershey’s has broadened the Kiss’ marketing appeal, but it remains a Valentine’s Day staple.

Another heavy-hitter on the American Valentine’s Day chocolate scene is Russell Stover. In 1923, Clara Stover started wrapping and selling “Bungalow Candies” out of her Denver kitchen, but eventually she moved to Kansas City with her husband where they opened several factories and sold Valentine’s chocolates in heart-shaped boxes to department stores throughout the Midwest. When they bought out their biggest competitor, Whitman’s, they refocused their wholesale business on drugstores and big-box retailers, where you can find them going strong today.

Locally, if you want to impress with a box of chocolates, we suggest you take a drive up to Sugar

Marsh Cottage Specialty Confections in Darien. Behind their trademark bright green door on Vernon Square is a wonderland of flavors to rival Willie Wonka’s factory creations. Dale Potts and her busy chocolatiers create an assortment of confections that include truffles, toffee, dipped shortbread, and more. For Valentine’s Day, this small-batch artisan confectioner adds solid chocolate heart-shaped boxes to their offerings. You can fill them with truffles or other treats from the shop or hide an engagement ring inside for a truly sweet occasion. We recommend a visit to the shop to see and taste the seasonal creations, but you can also order gift boxes and other products at sugarmarshcottage.com and have them shipped. If you’d like to learn chocolate making tips from the master, complete with sample tastings, Dale will be presenting a workshop at Golden Isles Olive Oil in Redfern Village on February 8th. To sign up, visit goldenislesoliveoil.com.