Tea was the hot beverage of choice in colonial America.
Still, there are account books from Deerfield storekeepers of the period detailing how customers in town purchased chocolate they likely took home so they could add boiling water to make drinking chocolate. It was often enjoyed by the sick, due to its richness. By the 19th century, chocolate became a confection and the English company Cadbury in 1861 was the first to forge a link between the tasty treat and Valentine’s Day, when it introduced heart-shaped boxes for the candy.
All these years later, chocolate and Valentine’s Day are paired like Cupid to a bow and arrow, and Americans purchase millions of pounds of chocolate during the week of Valentine’s Day. Last year, it made up 75 percent of this country’s Valentine’s candy sales. And area confectioners enjoy a piece of that chocolate pie.
Erving Station and Richardson’s Candy Kitchen carry on the tradition of heart-shaped boxes, which are their best-sellers around the romantic holiday. Donna Christenson, who opened Erving Station at 3 East Main St. with daughter Laura DiLuzio a year ago, said a few weeks ago, said people typically don’t start Valentine’s Day shopping until two weeks before the day or later.
“That was the experience last year,” she said.
Christenson said customers are interested in an array of chocolate – dark, milk, hazelnut and white, though the latter is technically not chocolate, because it contains no cocoa solids. Erving Station conducted a poll on Facebook asking people if they favor dark or milk chocolate. The results came in with a razor-thin margin of 51 perfect of people saying they prefer the dark stuff.
Some of Erving Station’s chocolates are made in house, and some are crafted by a family that has been making chocolate for three generations.
“It’s universally loved,” Christenson said.
She said Erving Station is selling “bacon bouquets” this year — baskets with four pieces of chocolate-covered bacon, a chocolate rose and a coffee mug.
Christenson mentioned a few women have stopped in for presents for “Galentine’s Day,” a made-up holiday from the television show “Parks and Rec.” It’s for “ladies celebrating ladies.”
In early America, soldiers received chocolate in their rations, though children were generally not allowed to consume it due to its content of a stimulant called theobromine.
Claire Carlson, the education program coordinator at Historic Deerfield, said there are ledgers indicating that Deerfield residents visited stores to purchase “cake of chocolate,” which she described as a little lump of hardened chocolate that would be grated into bits and mixed with hot water before being frothed into a drink. Carlson said people had special chocolate pots with lids with holes to accommodate stirring rods for the frothing.
She said there are not a lot of references to chocolate in old Deerfield, but it appears cacao beans come into port cities like Boston or New York and were roasted and ground. Carlson said Deerfield merchants would travel to Boston to get their inventory.
Kathie Williams, who bought Richardson’s from her parents about eight years ago, said Christmas is a much busier time of year for her business, though Feb. 13 is the single busiest day of the year. She called Valentine’s Day a “very last-minute holiday,” with men typically making up the majority of the procrastinating shoppers.
She said the shop sees a lot of sales in truffles, as well as chocolate that is 72 percent cocoa solids. Chocolate-dipped strawberries are also popular for those looking for something sweet for their sweetie.
Williams estimates about 60 percent of her customers prefer milk chocolate, though dark chocolate has seen a surge in popularity in recent years. She credits this with people becoming more health conscious and actually giving it a try. She said white chocolate has a loyal following, but is, by far, her customers’ least favorite kind.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.