Valentine Desserts – Culinary Literacy Corner

Join us Friday, Feb. 12 at 3PM for our Food Friday presentation on Valentine’s Desserts. This pre-recorded program features local baker Laura Coteff who creates delicious cookies and treats for Valentine’s Day. Laura’s Facebook page Abeille shows some of her amazing work. She bakes and creates lovely, delicious treats for her clients. Laura says on her page “My vision for Abeille translates into classic simplicity when it comes to quality & the service of product. Pastries, fromage, food…all special for YOU.”

February 14^th is Valentine’s Day – a day in which we celebrate our loved ones. People shower their sweethearts with cards, flowers, candy, and gifts. On Valentine’s Day people usually enjoy all kinds of sweet treats & desserts – cakes, pies, cookies, decadent candies or truffles decorated with hearts and lots of red and pink.

How did this holiday tradition begin? It is thought to be tied to St. Valentine but there is little information about how this saint is connected to love. The patron saint of lovers is actually St. Dwynwen who I doubt many people have even heard of! Back in the day of famous English poet and author Chaucer, nature-lovers noticed that English birds paired and produced eggs starting in February. English nobility started to send hand-written love letters during bird mating season. Shakespeare’s Ophelia said she was Hamlet’s Valentine and so Valentine’s Day became a tradition that lasted! Industrialization allowed for Valentine’s cards with lots of hearts and poems to be massed produced for people to send to their loved ones. Soon the makers of sweets and candy like Cadbury and Hershey’s started to produce candy treats to be given to people’s sweethearts.

The popular Valentine’s candies we see at stores today have an interesting history. A producer of lozenges figured out a way to stamp words on candy wafers and they started to be used at weddings. In 1902 the wafers became the conversation Valentine’s hearts. Today approximately 100,000 pounds of conversation hearts are made each year. Sweethearts (conversation hearts) is the best -selling Valentine’s candy. The first heart-shaped candy box of chocolates was created by Cadbury in 1861. Today approximately 36 million heart boxes of candy are sold.

Boxes of candy are nice and so are flowers, but how about impressing your sweetie this Valentine’s Day by making a homemade dessert from your heart! Check out our library for some great cookbooks to create delicious Valentine’s desserts.