Zwahlen's Homemade Candies Perfect for Your Valentine

Zwahlen's Ice Cream, in Audubon, is the one stop candy stop for Valentine's Day, and throughout the year.

Zwahlen's, which has been open for nine years in June, offers chocolates, chocolate-dipped apples, fresh baked goods, and ice cream - all made in house.

Wendy Christie, manager for Zwahlen's, said all the chocolates are Belgian chocolates and are made in house. The fruit fillings are made from all natural fruits. 

There are no preservatives in the chocolates and everything is made within the past week.

Christie told Patch that the most popular chocolate is the sea salt caramels. She added that the turtles are very popular and now they offer them in full size and bite-sized.

For Valentine's Day, Zwahlen's is offering pre-filled heart shaped boxes of their truffles, or, purchase an empty heart-shaped box and fill it with your favorite candies: truffles, caramels, pretzels, turtles and more.

Unique to Zwahlen's are their chocolate boxes: hollow chocolate heart boxes filled with truffles or nonpareils.

The chocolate dipped apples are also very popular. Christie told Patch that, among their decorated and candy covered apples, they also have chocolate dipped apples decorated for the holidays. The apples are a granny smith, which, Christie said are firm and tart to balance the sweetness of the chocolate and decorations on top. The apples are a very popular item, with Zwahlen's selling over 1,000 apples in the month of December alone.

Besides the chocolate side of the house, everyday Zwahlen's offers a fresh made baked goods, including brownies, cupcakes, and the dessert of the month for February is a Chocolate Torte.

There's also the fresh made ice cream. Each day there are three flavors: chocolate, vanilla and the flavor of the day.

Christie said there is no formula to the flavor list each month. She explained that each month there is a banana flavored ice cream, several fruit flavors, a peanut butter flavor, a caramel based flavor, and a butter based flavor.

She said that they are very responsive to customer and employee requests of flavors, including on their rotation pistachio, pumpkin, hazelnut, and coffee flavors.

She continued that ice creams with their baked goods in them are very popular, and ice creams with candies in them are very popular with children.

"Families come in in for ice cream and it's nice to have something for [people who don't like ice cream]," said Christie.

Christie said the owners live in Worcester and when opening Zwahlen's, they were looking for a place in their own community to become a community center for children to come after school, after sports practice, after activities and more.

Learn more about Zwahlen's Ice Cream and how to pre-order chocolates for Valentine's Day on their website and on their Facebook page.