Sidney Chocolatier Sweetens Seasons

Entering her home at the right time of year, neighbors are greeted with a scene like choosing your own gift. The boxes are attractive and presentable, and the contents are a chocoholic's dream.

Bertha "Bert" Mueller has been making chocolates for years. It started as a family event with her mother and siblings, and developed from there.

"When I grew up, my mother always made candy. I continued it with my family," Mueller said.

She said she was taught the recipes, and continues the arduous task of making the candies. It isn't the arduous task of a duty, but rather the physical work made enjoyable by love for those she gave the chocolates to. After she was taught the recipe, the chocolates were made as gifts. It is a physical task because each step of making the chocolates is made by hand; blending the ingredients, folding the fondant until it is just the right consistency, flavoring it as needed then coating it with the freshly-made chocolate.

By now, it is known as Mueller's Fine Chocolates, produced twice a year.

"It is set up as a home craft," Mueller said.

The making of chocolates evolved from just something she did for her family to gifts for friends and neighbors, then to a home craft business about 12 years ago when her husband died. She started making and selling chocolates then.

"We have continued making more and more as the years go by," she said. "We're up now to about 300 pounds of chocolate this year."

Her favorites include milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate.

The recipe, which includes specific heating and cooling stages, was given to her by her cousin about 30 years ago. The recipe is shared with her immediate family, including her daughter Pam. It is often a mother-daughter project, oftentimes involving long hours developing the chocolate confectionaries.

"The first of November we start making the fondant," she said. "Sometimes, we're really burning the midnight oil. It is a wonderful mother-daughter experience. I couldn't do it without her."

She said they usually make 30 batches, 90 balls and the fudge.

"We sell things by the piece not by the pound because people like to mix them up," Mueller said.

She added there are at least 60 different flavors. The most unique flavors they have used include banana split and mango. The flavors of high quality, purchased from a local pharmacy. The chocolate has to be chopped, then it is tempered and cooled to a specific temperature. The fondant is then paddled until creamy and firm.

Mueller is closing in on her 88th birthday. Her chocolate craft has resulted in a joke of sorts, the size of her right arm, from paddling the fondant. She says she is often asked if she will retire. In a sense, she already has, having worked for the quality assurance department at Cabela's for several years. Her chocolate craft is something she does because she enjoys it, she can make her friends and family smile with the sweetness of homemade chocolates.

"I guess I'll do it as long as I enjoy it. If I don't enjoy it, I'll do something else," she said.

She said in making chocolates she feels like she accomplishes something.

Her chocolates are mailed. She said some of her clients leave her their Christmas list and she sends them out accordingly; some as far away as Australia.

Sales usually begin the day after Thanksgiving. A typical day begins at 10 a.m. and lasts until the sign at the front of the house is taken down for the day.