NEWBURGH – On a frosty morning last week, John Courtsunis, owner of Commodore Chocolatier on upper Broadway in Newburgh, was resting as the days counted down to Valentine’s Day.
“Valentine’s Day is the single busiest day of the year or the single busiest two days of the year for the boxed chocolate industry,” he said.
Gifts of chocolate will be bought and presented February 13 and 14, and it’s a holiday tradition in the making by Courtsunis that starts immediately as the Christmas presents are being put away.
“Christmas is a busy holiday as well, so we generally begin making chocolates for Valentine’s Day on the 26th of December,” he said.
Commodore opened in the middle of the Great Depression in 1935, and as Courtsunis walked along a glass shelf of various confections in his store, pointing out fruits covered in chocolate, solid chocolate pieces, milk and dark chocolate, there was also much more to like and enjoy as the final weeks of winter get underway.
“Chocolate pretzels, raspberry jellies, caramel, nougat, walnut marzipan, which is a piece that is dipped in white chocolate with a walnut on top,” he said, “marsh mellows, peanuts, raisins.”
Production is based on that from previous years before and current economic figures, but sometimes Mother Nature will intervene and upset that effort and dampen the joy for those loved or cared about.
“You only have five weeks to prepare, so you are limited to what we can prepare for those two or three days anyway,” he said. “In the past we’ve had ice storms on the 13th or 14th of February, so you can’t predict those.”
