Thanks to everyone who has voted for their favorite ingredients! So far raspberry leads the field followed by lavender. There is a three way tie for third between peanut butter cups, chocolate chips, and milk duds. Cookie dough isn’t too far out of the hunt, however. The contest will end this weekend, so make sure you check out our post below and vote on your favorite ingredients! The top three ones will be added to our list.

We’ve been getting a lot of requests recently to add more ingredients to our list. We can’t decide which ones to add, however, so we are going to let you guys choose for us! We picked ten of the best ingredients that were suggested to us this past week. Vote for your favorite by writing a comment to this blog post. The top three most popular ingredients will be added to the list. We’ll keep the contest running until next Sunday. And the contestants are:

Chicklets: These are bite sized gum pieces that come in many different colors. We don’t have any gum on our site, so this would be a first!

Cookie Crisp Cereal: This is a popular cereal made up of tiny chocolate chip cookies. They are about the size of a nickel and would go great with chocolate.

Chocolate Nibs: These come from the center of the cocoa been and taste quite bitter. They do make a great addition to a chocolate bar, however, and would be especially good in a milk or white chocolate bar.

Lavender: This herb is actually quite popular in chocolate bars. Lavender is known for its taste and its health remedies. It’s been used as an anti-inflammatory, but we’re not doctors so we suggest it only for its great taste.

Kit Kat: This popular candy bar consists of a wafer covered in chocolate. We would break the bar up into parts and place it throughout your Chocomize bar.

Milk Duds: These are caramels covered in milk chocolate. We actually already offer caramel on our site, but this might be pretty tasty in white or dark chocolate.

Rosemary: This is another tasty herb that has a great aroma to it. Studies have also shown that carnosic acid, which is found in rosemary, can help shield the brain from free radicals and hence lower the risk of diseases like Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s. We’re not an expert on the matter, however, and think it just tastes good in chocolate!

Raspberry: We actually aren’t sure why we didn’t think of this earlier. Raspberries are an absolutely delicious fruit that would taste great in chocolate. This has actually been one of the most requested ingredients.

Cookie Dough: This is a popular addition for ice cream and would be a great ingredient for your chocolate bar. We would use cookie dough bites, the popular candy usually sold in movie theatres.

Peanut Butter Cups: There isn’t really much better of a combination than peanut butter and chocolate. We actually already offer peanut butter drops, but this would make a tasty addition as well. We would break up the peanut butter cup and place it throughout your bar.

Vote for your favorite ingredient in the comments section of this blog! The top three most popular will be added to the list.

Costco, the nationwide wholesaler, took notice of our company and recently featured us in their magazine, Costco Connection. The piece details how we started the company and what we are doing to grow and get new customers. There are some fantastic pictures of us and our chocolate! It’s a great read and if you aren’t a member of Costco and don’t receive this magazine, check it out on our press page.

Let us know what you guys think!

-They were first invented and patented in 1956 but weren’t actually sold to the public until 1975.

-There is a popular urban myth that if you eat pop rocks with carbonated soda, your stomach would explode. This is of course not true (I actually tried this on a bet from Fabian and Eric and remained unharmed enough to write this blog post.)

-The ‘pop’ sensation that you get when you eat them is created from pressurized carbon dioxide gas (same thing that is in soda.) When making the candy, they pressurize the rocks to 600 pounds per square inch to make sure that they explode in your mouth.

Let us know if you have any more additions for our list of ingredients. And as always, let us know what ingredient you think we should feature for the ‘ingredient of the week.’

Nick

Earlier this week we wrote about the history of mass customization. We thought it might be interesting to talk about some of our favorite companies who are currently taking advantage of this new worldwide trend. Businesses in many different industries are letting their customers custom design their own products, here is a couple we think you will like:

What really separates this custom cereal company from others is that all their cereal is made in a gluten free dedicated facility. As we mentioned in our previous post, as people become increasingly health conscious, mass customization in the food industry is becoming more and more important. This is especially true for people with food allergies, whether it is to nuts, gluten, etc. Custom Choice Cereal gives people with celiac’s disease the ability to custom create their own delicious cereal without having to worry about the effects of gluten! So check them out if you want to create your own custom gluten free cereal, we highly recommend it.

-Blue Nile is another company taking advantage of the mass customization trend. We pride ourselves that at Chocomize you can custom design the ultimate romantic gift. But at Blue Nile, an online jewelry store, you can custom design your own diamond rings, pendants, earrings and more. This might be the one company to outdo us in the romance department (we still think that a Chocomize bar would make the gift even more romantic, and ask us about our ‘marry me’ plaques if you are thinking about popping the question.)

-Scrapblog is a company that lets you custom design your own scrapbook. You go to their website, pick your scrapbook theme, add your own pictures, and have it shipped right to your door! This is really great because it takes all the stress of putting the pictures together yourself. So if you’re looking away to get all those photos you have lying around your house together in one place, we recommend you check out their website.

-Tastebook is a custom cookbook company. You can search from a variety of different recipes on their website and choose your favorite to put together in your own book .They even let upload your own recipes and pictures. We know that there are a lot of food lovers that read our blog at Chocomize and we’re guessing you guys will like this company.

Do you know any other mass customization companies? Any recommendations for us? Let us know your ideas and comments.

Tropical Island Bar

Of the Chocomize custom chocolate bars the Tropical Island Bar is hands down the most relaxed. Originally from the Tropical Island of Tonga this bar has lazily floated from one tropical island to another. Along his journey the Tropical Island Bar has picked up souvenirs from his favorite islands. Some of the souvenirs the bar picked up were pointless; “Tropical Island Bar, when was the last time you wore that hula skirt you picked up in Hawaii?” asked the ever refined Romance Bar. The truth is in his travels the Tropical Island Bar has picked up a lot of junky chachkas, but some have left a lasting impression.  Some of these souvenirs have become an important part of who Tropical Island Bar is today; Coconuts from Jamaica, Bananas in Costa Rica, Cantaloupe Melon from Sri Lanka and those awesome argyle socks from Bermuda. This free spirit is a citizen of the world who embodies the most relaxing aspects of the tropics!

Chocomize Personals

Tropical Island Bar

DC seeking MC with interest in confection and travel.

You- Milk Chocolate Chocomize bar with gummy bears, nerds and other candies who enjoys fun and relaxing.

Me- Dark Chocolate with Cantaloupe Melon, Coconut Flakes and Banana Chips who enjoys travel and just chilling out.

Interest- Long walks on the beach, playing my steel drum and listening to Bob Marley records.

Favorite Movie- The Blue Lagoon starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins.

Favorite Song- Three Little Birds by Bob Marley

Eric

-Most romantic: Romance Bar- Dark chocolate, gold flakes, chocolate butterfly, rose petals, strawberries.

-Best sense of humor: Milk chocolate with bacon and chipotles as a wedding favor (weirdest order yet.)

-Most popular: Smores Bar- Milk chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows.

-Most likely to succeed: Dark chocolate with plaque that says “will you marry me?” (who would ever say no to this.)

-Most likely to fail: Milk chocolate with bacon, mini chipotles, sour patch kids, pop rocks, potato chips.

-Most likely to become president: Dark chocolate with almonds, pistachios (the bar we sent to Barack Obama.)

-The early bird: Dark chocolate with ground coffee, whole coffee beans.

-Most attractive: Dark chocolate with sliced almonds, blueberries, goji berries, candied violet petals.

-Most fun: Milk chocolate with pop rocks, gummi bears, chocolate candy.

-Most retro: Milk chocolate with good & plenty, gushers, pop rocks, message hearts.

-Most extravagant: White chocolate with 23 karat gold flakes, rose petals, chocolate butterfly.

-Hottest: Dark chocolate with chipotles, peppercorns, wasabi peas, cayenne pepper.

-Most likely to be remembered: Milk chocolate with bacon.

-Most likely to seduce: Valentine’s Day Bar - Crystallized rose petals, candy sugar hearts, message hearts, happy valentine plaque.

-Most likely to be famous in 10 years: Candy Bar- Milk chocolate with gummi bears, chocolate candy, nerds.

-Coolest: Summer chocolate bar- White chocolate, chocolate candy, toffee.

-Most likely to be inhaled by your kids: Milk chocolate with gummi bears, candied rose petals, sour patch kids,  pop rocks.

-Most likely to cure a disease: goji berries, flax seeds, cranberries.

Thanks to all our customers who ordered these bars and helped put the list together. Let me know if you guys can think of anything else to add!

Nick

-Give someone the perfect custom chocolate bar. We have many premium ingredients tailored for someone’s birthday. Whether it is a plaque that says ‘Happy Birthday’, a sugar candle holder with an actual candle, a heart that says ‘I love you’, or some candied rose petals, our ingredients can really separate your gift from others.

-If you can’t figure out the perfect bar for someone’s birthday, how about you let them design their own with a Chocomize gift certificate. Our gift certificates are extremely popular for birthday gifts. You can send it to your friend online or print it out and deliver it in hand. Either way it’s a great gift for that special day.

-Give the gift that keeps on giving with our Chocomize chocolate of the month club. You can sign someone up for three, six, or twelve months. The recipient will receive four unique and specially designed chocolate bars every month. Not only will your recipient thank you when they get it on their birthday, you’ll be in their minds every time they receive the perfect bar from Chocomize!

Give someone the perfect birthday gift with Chocomize!

Mass customization is what makes Chocomize so unique. With over 10 billion possible combinations, almost every chocolate bar we produce is a distinct and new combination. Chocomize is proud to say that we are the first US company to specialize in mass customization of chocolate bars (i.e. allowing customers to choose their own ingredients) but we did not invent the term, far from it. This blog post explores the evolution of mass customization and its importance in everyday life.  

Mass production, or the ability to produce large amounts of uniform products, first became popular around the turn of the 20^th century. Henry Ford used the concept to produce high quality and inexpensive vehicles starting as far back as 1910. One of the flaws of mass production, however, was that the final product was always the same, and any deviation or customization was minimal. It wasn’t until midway through the 1980’s that the term ‘mass customization’ was first used and became in vogue.

Stanly Davis is credited with first using the term in 1987. The basic idea of mass customization is the ability for custom products to be produced on a scale, as well as price, similar to mass production. Although this concept seems almost obvious and inevitable in today’s world, true mass customization would never have been possible without the internet, computerization, as well as other technologies that would have been inconceivable almost fifty years ago.

Mass customization is thought of having four types: adaptive, collaborative, cosmetic, and transparent.

-Adaptive customization refers to manufactures mass producing a standardized product that can be altered, or customized, once it was in the hands of the consumer. An example of this would be an office chair where many of the settings such as seat back, seat height, etc., can be altered by the user.

-Collaborative customization occurs when customers have explicit input on the final product being offered. Our custom chocolate bars are an example of this type of customization. Our customers can visit our website and design a chocolate bar to fit their specific desires. The final product, which we hand make, is a direct result of collaboration with the consumer (and would be impossible on a large scale without the advent of such technologies as the internet.)

-Cosmetic customization occurs when manufactures produce a single product but market it to different consumers in different ways. For instance a cell phone company might market their phone to teenagers by saying that it’s perfect for instant messaging with their friends, while market the same phone to professionals by saying that it is great for downloading business files. Although the cell phone company is only producing one type of phone, by marketing it in different ways it is attempting to personalize the phone to different groups of people, and this is thought of as a form of customization.  

-Transparent customization occurs when manufactures provide consumers with a unique product without the collaboration of the customer. The customer’s preference is assessed by a service worker, and the product is adjusted to fit their needs without their knowledge.

These four types of mass customization are all different and unique ways that firms can meet the constant fluctuation of consumer’s desires.

In the years since technology has made mass customization available, companies have been able to use the theory to their benefit while others have used it to their detriment. Successful examples include Dell’s ‘build to order’ program where consumers can go to their website and choose the different components for their computer. Another example is the tourist industry and the rise of travel agents. Although these businesses do not provide a tangible product, customers can design their own unique custom trip that is tailored to their specific needs and desires.

Not all companies have been successful into the forays of mass customization. Cannondale is a perfect example. In the early part of the decade they claimed that consumers could customize their own bikes by choosing different frames, colors, etc. Although in theory this might be a good idea, the technology did not exist to make it cost efficient for the company, and this foray into mass customization was ultimately one of the reasons it ended up filing for bankruptcy.

In a lot of ways, mass customization for food has existed for many years without modern technologies. Ordering a sandwich at the local deli, for instance, is an example of where the customer can choose the components to create a unique product (i.e. choosing turkey instead of roast beef, mayonnaise instead of ketchup.) It seems obvious why mass customization for food is so desirable. Beyond the fact that everyone has their own unique tastes and palate, mass customization is becoming increasingly important as nutritional science becomes more developed. As people become increasingly conscious about their health and specific dietary needs, mass customization of food becomes almost a necessity. People suffering from Celiac’s disease, for instance, need to be able to customize their diet to exclude foods with any trace of gluten.

So where does Chocomize fit into all of this? If you go back to the four different types of mass customization, Chocomize participates in collaborative customization. Whether it is through our website, e-mail, or phone, we work directly with the customer to customize a chocolate bar that fits their specific needs. We can customize a chocolate bar in many different ways. The first is allowing people to choose the type of Belgian chocolate they want, milk, dark, or white. The second way is giving people the choice of over 100 different ingredients. And although this makes for over 10 billion possible combinations (talk about unique) we like to think the possibilities are unlimited. Why? Customers can suggest ingredients that aren’t even on the menu. This makes almost anything possible…  

Another way Chocomize is a form of collaborative customization (which we think is the best and most important type) is that we can create custom images and logos for both our packaging and chocolate bar itself. Whether it is a wedding favor, corporate gift, or any other special event, this option is popular for larger bulk orders.

We like to think that we are on the forefront of not just mass customization for food, but mass customization in general. We find the evolution of mass production and mass customization fascinating and can’t wait to see what the future holds!

You don’t need a special holiday like Valentine’s Day to order the perfect custom chocolate bar. Our chocolate bars are good for any occasion or no occasion at all! If you’ve been surfing around our website lately you’ll have noticed that we have removed the Valentine’s Day ingredients bar. We’ll post special tabs throughout the year when certain holidays arise (I think the next one will be Easter, just to give you an early warning.)

For now, however, if you want to get a great recommendations on what ingredients will make your custom chocolate bar perfect, keep reading our ‘ingredient of the week’ postings. This week’s winner is our strawberry gushers.

 Most of the ingredients that we feature in this weekly post are recommendations from customer requests. Although we have recently added a bunch of new ingredients thanks to some great ideas from our fans, (check out the potato chips, they are a surprisingly great addition to chocolate) the idea for strawberry gushers was all Nick’s. Fabian and Nick were shopping for groceries in the local supermarket when Nick came across a box of gushers. He immediately grabbed them from the shelves and told Fabian that we needed to add this to our list. Fabian had never even heard of gushers (those Germans are so funny sometimes) but after one try he needed no more convincing from Nick.

Gushers actually have some nutritional benefit to them. They are high in vitamin C and very low in fat. It is worth noting that they do contain a high amount of sugar, so the health effects aren’t all positive. We recommend gushers to those chocoholics with a sweet tooth. They go great with milk chocolate and have a soft chewy texture that makes it very easy to bite into. Personally, I would go with milk chocolate, chocolate candy pieces, and gushers. Simple, yet extremely tasty.

Thanks again to everyone who wrote in with suggestions for ingredients this week. We apologize for Nick being so greedy and posting his addition as the ingredient of week, but he is seriously obsessed with gushers. Contact us with questions and ideas at info@chocomize.com.

And if you missed the behind scenes look at Chocomize on News 12, check out our home page to see the clip.

Eric, Nick, and Fabian

As we mentioned in an earlier post, we’ve been hit with a lot of snow lately. Last weekend we got around 27 inches and yesterday we received around 18 inches of snow. Four feet of snow in less than a week is a lot. This made for quite an adventure down at the chocolate factory (it’s not really a factory but we’ve read and watched Charlie and the Chocolate factory too much.)

Wednesday morning we were all on tenterhooks. We were alerted that the post office was going to close early because of the blizzard. As a result, we had a few precious hours to finish making the chocolate, pack it in the shipping boxes, and then give it to the USPS to be mailed out. We knew that if this storm was going to be anything like last weekend, we might get trapped inside our facility if we waited too long!

We wasted no time and quickly got to work. Although we were excited about the tremendous amount of orders that had come in the previous night, we were worried about the impending blizzard. As we started making the chocolate bars, the snow slowly began to fall. Eric took a quick break and peeked out the window. He came back looking a little stressed. He yelled to everyone working “it’s starting to pick up out there; hopefully we’ll make it in time!”

We had put a disclaimer on the website saying that everyone had to order by Wednesday morning if they wanted to get their chocolate by Valentine’s Day. We realized that people love to leave things for the last minute because as fast as me made the bars, the orders were coming in faster.

With two hours to go before our deadline, the snow really started to come down. At the same time, we got word that there was not going to be anyone plowing for that day. Leaving the orders unfinished was not an option. We couldn’t imagine facing the wrath of our customers if their boyfriend or girlfriend didn’t receive their custom chocolate bars in time. We decided we would stay until everything was finished, even if that meant we would get snowed in and have to spend the night at the chocolate factory!

For all our readers who aren’t in the mid-Atlantic region and did not experience the snow storm, you should know that the snow wasn’t the lightfluffy kind. It was the heavy, wet, sticky snow that made it almost impossible to drive on or shovel away. With one hour to go and the snow really coming down fast, Fabian gave up all hope and started joking that being trapped wouldn’t be so bad, we would have all the chocolate we could ever want.

When we finished making all the chocolate bars, we had one more hurdle to leap: pack them up and send them to the post office. By this time, however, several inches of snow had fallen. We weren’t sure whether USPS would brave the conditions and come and pick up all our packages (too many for us to carry to the post office.) Luckily for everyone, however, they arrived just as we finished taping up the last box!

We quickly locked up our factory, shoveled the snow off our cars, and drove home. We had survived the Valentine Day rush and the massive blizzard! Fabian called a couple hours later and remarked that he did not see a single car on the road during the drive back home.

Hope everyone enjoys their custom chocolate bars. If you forgot to order in time, don’t forget about our e-gift certificates which make great Valentine’s Day gifts.

Chocomize is SOLD OUT for Valentine's Day! Thanks to all our fans who ordered custom chocolate bars. The last couple days have been a race against the clock. Not only have we been getting nonstop orders which we had to have sent out by noon today, we got word of an impending blizzard. This morning, as we were making the last of the chocolate bars, the snow started to fall and we were in a race against time and weather. Luckily we managed to get all the chocolate bars out in time, and we can’t wait to hear the response from you guys!

If you weren’t able to order in time, fear not. You can always give someone an e-gift certificate. Check out our chocolate of the month club or our gift certificate page to make sure that you are still giving the gift of chocolate on Valentine’s Day. Thanks again to all our fans.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/video?id=7266558

Don’t forget: LAST DAY TO ORDER CHOCOLATE FOR VALENTINE’S DAY. Look how delicious rose petals and 23 karat gold flakes look in the video! Make this Valentine’s Day the best one yet with the perfect custom chocolate bar from Chocomize.

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and what could make a better gift then a custom chocolate bar from Chocomize? Be sure to order by 12p.m. on Wednesday the 10^th to ensure that your order gets delivered on time.

Here are some interesting facts about Valentine’s Day:

-15% of woman in the United States send flowers to themselves! Why would you do that when you could just send yourself a custom chocolate bar from Chocomize?

-Over 1 billion cards will be exchanged on Valentine’s Day. Sounds like a lot huh, can you guess the holiday that the most cards are given on?

-Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards out of anyone. If you really want to impress your teacher, we recommend one of our custom chocolate bars.

-The first picture of a U.S. president was taken on Valentine’s Day, 1849. Do you know who the president was?

-Three quarters of the people who buy flowers on Valentine’s Day are men. Guys if you really want to impress that special someone, how about some candied rose petals on a Belgian chocolate bar.

-People spend an average of almost 80 dollars on Valentine’s Day, and almost 700 million dollars total! Save big bucks by ordering the perfect custom chocolate bar from Chocomize!

-Chocolate is extremely popular for Valentine’s Day. Did you know that chocolate manufactures use 40% of the almonds produced in the world and 20% of the world’s peanuts? We have both of course.

For those of you who can’t decide which of our premium ingredients to include in your custom chocolate bar, we have some suggestions for you in our ‘favorites’ section. So which of our ‘favorite’s’ bars have actually been the most popular? Some on this list have been around since the beginning, others have been added only recently at the request of some of customers. But here it goes, the top five ‘favorites’ so far:

5. That’s nuts: The ‘that’s nuts’ bar has been around since the beginning of Chocomize. Dark chocolate with pecan halves, walnuts, butter toasted peanuts, and hazelnuts. Definitely the healthiest bar that made the top five list, the ‘that’s nuts’ bar was designed especially for those healthy chocolate lovers who like a little crunch in their bite, incidentally, this is Fabian’s favorite bar on our list.

4. Romance Bar: The ‘romance bar’ is another one of our ‘favorites’ bar that was created at the start of Chocomize. With dark chocolate, 23 karat gold flakes, rose petals, strawberries, and a chocolate butterfly, the ‘romance bar’ was designed specifically  to woo that special someone in your life. Probably the most frequently asked question we get about this ‘favorites’ bar is whether the gold flakes are actually edible. We would never put anything that wasn’t edible on your chocolate bar. That would take all the fun away! This bar has been increasingly popular around Valentine’s Day, but is always great for a romantic gift.

3. Valentine’s Day Bar: The ‘Valentine’s Bar’ is the newest addition to the ‘favorites’ section. Despite being recently added, however, it has been flying off our shelves (this is actually just an expression, every chocolate bar is handmade when someone orders, we don’t actually keep any chocolate bars pre-made.) With Dark chocolate, crystallized rose petals, candy sugar hearts, and message hearts, the Valentine’s Day bar is the perfect gift for the upcoming holiday. Make sure you order before February 10^th to make sure your chocolate bar arrives on time!

2. Candy Bar: The ‘candy bar’ is another chocolate bar that has been around since the beginning of Chocomize. Some of you might have noticed, however, that we recently switched around some of the ingredients in this ‘favorites’ bar. Nick, our resident candy expert, was not totally satisfied with the last ‘candy bar’ (he eats at least one of these a day) and decided to tweak the ingredients slightly. The end result is pure perfection (at least he tells us every day it is) and has been incredibly popular. With milk chocolate, gummi bears, chocolate candy, and nerds, this bar is perfect for someone with a sweet tooth.

1. Smores Bar: And the winner is…SMORES BAR! Every time someone orders this bar (which happens a lot) we ask ourselves: how could we not think of this bar ourselves? Such a simple combination of milk chocolate, mini marshmallows, and teddy grahams create an incredibly delicious chocolate bar. The ‘smores bar’ is an example of how you guys are definitely smarter than we are. Without you, we never would have thought of adding teddy grahams, and we never would have thought of making what might be the perfect chocolate bar (or at least Eric’s favorite chocolate bar.)

So there you have it, our top five ‘favorites’ bars. If you’re having trouble choosing which ingredients to include in your custom chocolate bar, take a look at this section to get ideas. Feel free to go back to the creation station and add some of your own ingredients to the favorite’s bars (e-mail us ideas as well.) Either way, you’re going to love these chocolate bars!

P.S. Don’t forget Valentine’s Day is February 14^th, make sure you order by midday on the 10^th to get the perfect custom chocolate bar delivered just in time for the holiday!

Chocolate has a long and rich history. Archaeologists have discovered that people have been eating chocolate for over three thousand years! Chocolate was first cultivated in central and south America between 1100 and 1400 B.C. Chocolate was so popular during the Mayan civilization that they would grow cocoa trees in their own backyard. Unfortunately for them, however, they hadn’t quite discovered how to make the chocolate that we are so familiar with today. They would use the cocoa beans to make a bitter drink (sort of like chocolate milk or hot cocoa.)

Hundreds of years later, the Aztecs were cultivating chocolate as well. They too would make a bitter drink from the cocoa bean and would flavor it with anything from vanilla to chili pepper (I guess we weren’t the first to think of that!)  The Aztecs even used the cocoa bean as a form of currency. Luckily for us at Chocomize we can’t eat our money; otherwise we’d be flat broke. Legend has it that the famous Aztec ruler Montezuma would drink golden goblets filled with thick chocolate colored red. After one use, he would throw the golden goblets away.

Chocolate did not become known to western audiences until the Spanish conquests of the 16^th century. Hernando Cortez brought cocoa beans back to the king and queen of Spain where it instantly became a favored delicacy for the Spanish royalty. Chocolate was kept a secret among Spanish royalty for almost 100 years, but eventually became known and spread throughout Europe. Soon everyone from the English to the Swiss were producing and selling chocolate. In 1765, the first chocolate factory was started in New England, and chocolate soon became an instant success. It wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution, however, that chocolate became mass produced. With the advent of mills and factories, the coca bean could be processed at a quicker rate and more chocolate could be produced. Milk chocolate was first made in 1875 by the Swiss chocolate maker Daniel Peter, and the 20^th century brought many changes and refinements to what we now know as the chocolate bar.

Perhaps the most important year for chocolate, however, was 2009. The first company in the United States that allowed people to choose the ingredients in their chocolate bar was started. That’s right, 2009 was the year of Chocomize!

Have you ever wondered who ‘Saint Valentine’ was? Even though the feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 A.D. by Pope Gelasius, no one actually knows who St. Valentine is or why we celebrate him. Indeed, when the Pope created this feast he wrote of St. Valentine that he was one “... whose name[ is] justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God."

Although no one knows for sure who this saint actually was, there are of course some myths about who he might have been. One of the most popular and well known myths about St. Valentine is that he was a Roman priest during the reign of Claudius II (213-270).

The story goes that Claudius was not a nice guy. He was fighting multiple wars against multiple enemies and he believed that love made a man a poor fighter. As a result, he outlawed marriage throughout the Roman nation. According to the story, however, Saint Valentine was secretly marrying Roman couples underneath the nose of the Roman emperor. When Claudius discovered that Valentine was secretly performing marriage ceremonies, he had him arrested and sentenced to death.

Here is where the story gets interesting. While Valentine was in jail, he fell in love with his jailer’s daughter. On the eve of his execution, he wrote the young girl a love note signed ‘from your Valentine’ and thus the first ‘Valentine’ was written. He was beheaded the next day (Claudius was a real jerk) but his name would forever be remembered on a now famous holiday!

This story is just another reason why we love celebrating Valentine’s Day. There is no better way to send someone a love note than with a custom chocolate bar that says ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ or ‘I Love You’. Check out our special Valentine’s Day tab, or if you’re stuck on what to give, check out our favorites section!