Imagine walking around the grocery store trying to find a gift for your valentine. The first couple of things you might buy are cards or flowers … or candy. Most stores have a wide variety of Valentine’s-themed candy; anything from the iconic Conversation Hearts to expensive Belgian Chocolates. While Valentine’s candy comes in many forms, the focus of my piece is the most “romantic” Valentine’s candy: chocolate.

The iconic heart-shaped Valentine’s chocolate boxes contain a variety of chocolates with different fillings or flavors. Sometimes they have different nuts like pecans, almonds or peanuts; and other times they have fruit flavored creamy fillings like raspberry or strawberry. The most important part of these chocolates is not the filling inside, but the chocolate coating on the outside.

The quality of the outer chocolate shell plays a huge role in the taste of the overall chocolate. The most commonly used chocolate for these treats is milk chocolate. If the chocolate is gritty and has a bad aftertaste, the sweet filling on the inside isn’t as good. Valentine’s chocolates with a darker outer coating always taste superior. 

I find that the candies made with dark chocolate taste better because the chocolate is smoother and less sweet. Cutting the sweetness of the chocolate makes the filling more tolerable on the sweeter candies. The darker a chocolate gets, the more bitter it is, the less sugary it tastes. The cheaper boxes of Valentine’s chocolates lack the dark chocolate and the good fillings.

Brands like Elmer’s and Hershey’s may prove more affordable, but the chocolate in them isn’t as good as more expensive chocolates from brands like Godiva. 

Getting a box of chocolates for Valentine’s day is always something special, but the cheap chocolates don’t live up to the real chocolates. So, I encourage you to treat yourself to the good chocolate, Southwest.