Chocolate martini a perfect way to toast Valentine’s Day or any day
In 2017, I wrote a column about Hammond scribe and broadcaster claim-tofame Jean Shepherd and his references to the classic boxes of chocolate covered cherries given as gifts during the holidays.
How quickly five years pass by, and along, the way, I’m always learning something new about something old it seems, often courtesy of Tribune readers.
My late Grandma Green, my mom’s mother, always traditionally gave all of her five children boxes of Queen Anne Cherry Cordials for the holidays. These rich and delicious chocolate covered cherries were a family favorite.
What I had not realized, until I was contacted by readers, is one of the reasons Shepherd, forever a holiday name staple because of his Northwest Indiana recollections captured in “A Christmas Story,” referenced chocolate covered cherries in his writing is because they have a sweet footnote in Hammond history.
A century ago, Queen Anne Co. was born on March 7, 1921, and opened its candy factory at 604 Hoffman St. in Hammond in 1923. The venture was a result of the combined business minds of Max Weiss, a jewelry salesman who became the company’s president; Herman Glickman, an experienced candy maker as vice president and treasurer; and Harry Martin, an experienced candy salesman as the company secretary, each of the three owning a third of the business interest.
Despite name association with royalty, the company’s brand was dreamed up by Weiss, who died in 1942, and who liked the name “Queen Anne” because it was the name of a landscape hill in Kansas City where he grew up. Originally, the confections manufactured were primarily made with various nuts like almonds, black walnuts and pecans imported from France, Spain, Italy and Brazil, with more than 100 women employed to hand-crack the hard shells for the production line.
Eventually, the company purchased Kupfer Candy Co. which specialized in hand-rolled chocolates and expanded to include caramels and marshmallow confections to create specialties for Christmas gifts and Easter baskets. In 1948, chocolate covered cherries became the brand’s signature product as a specialty that featured “a whole Maraschino cherry, suspended in a creamy center and enrobed with smooth milk chocolate.”
In 1974, the Queen Anne factory and the brand were purchased by Fascination Candy Co. of Chicago, which later sold it in 1980 to Dietrich Corp. of Reading, Pennsylvania, which also owned the cough drop manufacturer Luden’s Inc.. By 1986, Luden’s Inc. and Queen Anne had combined annual sales of more than $90 million, when both were sold to Hershey
Foods, with the latter boasting more than $2 billion in sales the same fiscal year.
Hershey opted to shed the Queen Anne line in
1987 to sell it to CF Acquisitions,
which in turn sold the Hammond factory to Gray and Co. in 1992, before it eventually became Premiere Company which closed in 2006 when World’s Finest Chocolates purchased the Queen Anne brand. Today, World’s Finest continues making and selling the Queen Anne Cherry Cordials box brand produced at its Chicago plant. The Hammond candy factory was demolished in 2013.
Valentine’s Day is less than a month away and chocolate remains the favorite go-to gift. But sometimes, something even better is just a sip away. Chocolate martinis continue to be a popular holiday cocktail libation for toasting the moment. Black Button Distilling created a simple chocolate martini recipe for me to share with readers with the key ingredient by their delicious Bespoke Bourbon Cream ($34.99 at BlackButtonDistilling.com).
Whiskey and cream naturally go well together and Black Button Distilling’s hand finished bourbon blended with local farm fresh New York State
creates a sipping sensation that is rich and delectable. Bourbon Cream is very similar to an Irish Cream, but has a more complex flavor profile. The bourbon base creates a rich flavor framed by both a sweet vanilla and smooth caramel taste.
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@ comhs.org or mail your questions: From the Farm, P.O. Box 68, San Pierre, IN 46374.