The Unexpectedly Modern Origin Of Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

What's more beautiful than the union of rich chocolate and sweet, ruby red strawberries? Simply elegant, chocolate-covered strawberries are a standard treat at gourmet candy shops but are also available at grocery stores around Valentine's Day. However, the treat can also be easily made at home with customizations, such as different kinds of chocolate and toppings.

A lover of white and dark chocolate? No need to choose one or the other with Black And White Chocolate-Covered Strawberries. Garnishes are another way to add a personal touch to the sweet treat. Some ideas from Live Well Bake Often include crushed Oreos, sprinkles, chopped nuts, mini chocolate chips, and coconut flakes. 

Of course, like so many kinds of foods, the finished product is only as good as its ingredients. The strawberries should be ripe with a green stem still attached, per Taste of Home. Don't forget to select fat, juicy berries. The chocolate should be from chocolate bars rather than chocolate chips because the chips contain stabilizers that affect how well they melt. 

It's hard to imagine that chocolate and strawberries remained independent for generations, but that is exactly the case until one woman had the great idea to combine them — a momentous creation that happened more recently than one might think.

Both chocolate and strawberries have been part of the human diet for centuries. According to Britannica, the kind of strawberries we are familiar with today began to be cultivated in the 1700s. Chocolate, on the other hand, has been enjoyed for 2,000 years by humans. For hundreds of years, the two were enjoyed individually until a woman working in a small gourmet shop decided to bring them together. 

Chocolate reports Lorraine Lorusso first crafted chocolate-covered strawberries in the 1960s while working at Stop N' Shop in Chicago. The story goes that Lorusso dipped fresh strawberries in tempered chocolate that was sold in the shop and then began to offer the berries to customers after the chocolate hardened. 

Considering the delicious taste of chocolate-covered strawberries, it's not surprising that Lorusso's treat grew in widespread popularity. But there is also something to be said about biting through a crispy chocolate shell into a sweet and juicy fruit that also makes the treat so enjoyable, Anneke Anhaeusser told Good Food. 

Chocolatiers didn't stop experimenting with coating fruit in chocolate. Some fruit such as dried mango, bananas, and kiwis have been discovered to pair well with dark chocolate, while Shari's Berries explains apples, coconut, and lychees all are complemented by milk chocolate. 

Lorruso has proven that it's worth trying a new food combination because you might discover the next best thing.