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Valentine’s Day is fast upon us…

…and Zingerman’s Deli is incredibly giddy at the thought of Valentine’s sweets. Whether you’re shopping for your spouse, an unsuspecting crush, a friend, or family, we’ve got something to make them swoon and smile.

Custom Box of Chocolates

VD Custom Box of Chocolates

Make your valentine swoon with a loving assortment of chocolates. Our truffle case is a treasure trove of confections. Visit us in the Next Door Chocolate Corner to craft your sweetheart’s delight.

Our seasonal favorites include:

  • Sweet Gem’s Champagne Hearts filled with chocolate ganache drunk on Mawby’s Blanc de Blanc with an added splash of cognac.
  • Chocolate in Chelsea’s Balsamic Strawberry starts with a layer of jammy strawberry, topped w/dark chocolate ganache, and finished with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
  • Grocer’s Daughter’s Honey Caramel Hearts are made of dark chocolate filled with honey caramel, sprinkled with smoked sea salt.
  • Chocolat Moderne’s Heart Collections feature an array of flavors blended with chocolate encased in colorful heart shapes.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries and Marshmallows!

These special seasonal treats are limited in quantity.
Pre-order your chocolate dipped strawberries & marshmallows today in the Next Door or call 663-3354. Available for pick-up 2/12-2/14.

VD Chocolate Covered Marshmallows

Chocolate Covered Marshmallows
Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory Vanilla Marshmallows hand-dipped right here at the Deli in Michel Cluizel chocolate and coated in Zingerman’s Bakehouse Graham Crackers.

VD Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
Plump ripe strawberries dipped in Michel Cluizel chocolate from France, adorned with your choice of white chocolate, toasted coconut or slivered almonds.

Tickets to the Valentine’s Day Wine & Chocolate Happy Hour

VD Smitten in the Mitten

Taste why we are smitten with wine and chocolate from the Mitten! Join us for a Michigan-centered happy hour featuring a trio of select Michigan-produced wines and a specially crafted sparkling wine cocktail paired with assorted chocolates that are hand-made by some of our beloved truffle-makers from the Great Lakes State. This is an excellent accompaniment to a dinner with your sweetheart.

Reserve a seat for 6pm

Reserve a seat for 8pm

Vosges Haut Chocolate, Exotic Chocolate Mini Library

Get lost in this chocolate lover’s library and explore a worldly assortment of flavors with a selection of bars featuring, Vosges founder, Katrina’s favorite chocolate pairings.

Spanish Drinking Chocolate

VD Spanish Drinking Chocolate

Cozy up to your valentine with this hot chocolate made so thick & chocolate-y you can stick a spoon up in it. So intoxicating you might want to sip this sitting down.

Comptoir du Cacao, Praline with Salted Caramel

Creamy milk chocolate filled with a paste of freshly ground nuts, thin crispy wafers and ribboned with salted butter caramel. What’s not to love?

Askinosie Chocolate, Tanzania Trio Gift Set

Express your affection for the cocao bean with this single-origin collection. Each bar features unique ingredients and is hand crafted using beans sourced directly from Askinosie’s cocoa farmer partners in Mababu, Tanzania.

Big Picture Farm, Goat Caramels

Soft caramels made with fragrant vanilla and creamy milk from a happy herd of pasture-raised goats. Smooth, buttery, with a complex sweetness. Packaged in a gift-worthy box adorned by adorable illustrations of the goats. Perfect for the sweetie in your life.

Chocolat Moderne, Chocolate Covered Cherries

Amarena Mon Amour! Flavorful Italian cherries bathed in a sophisticated, vodka-infused syrup concealed by smooth dark chocolate shell. Pleasantly tart, delicately sweet, and wonderfully juicy.

Chocolate Gelato Month

VD chocolate heat gelato

Classic

  • chocolate
  • vanilla
  • mint chip
  • rocky ride
  • chocolate heat (spicy)

Premium

  • johndoya
  • turtle
  • cherry chip sorbet
  • stone ground & salted
  • choc. balsamic strawberry

See you soon!

Top Picks from Emily:

IMG_3514

chocomarshmallow

chocostrawberries

Pre-order Valentine’s Day Chocolate Dipped Strawberries and Chocolate Covered Marshmallows, call 734-663-3354. Only sold in the truffle case this time of year, a real treat! Available for pick up at Zingerman’s Next Door: 2/13 through 2/16.


Valentine’s Day Chocolate & Bourbon Cocktail Hour at Zingerman’s Events on 4th – TWO Seatings!

Join us on Valentine’s Day for a sample flight of bourbon hand-picked by our very own in-house aficionados, paired with chocolate and confections made by Joan Coukos of Chocolat Moderne. The perfect complement to a dinner with your sweetheart.

reserve your 6pm-7pm seat here

reserve your 8pm-9pm seat here


Chocolate and Cheese Tasting at Zingerman’s Creamery

Join us on Valentine’s Day at 6pm for a night of tasting delicious handpicked cheeses and freshly made chocolate. We welcome special guests from Zingermans Candy Manufactory to bring the worlds of sweet & salty together for a mind-blowing chocolate and cheese event of a lifetime. With cheeses ranging from nutty, hard-crystalized Goudas to fresh, buttery-soft ripened cheeses, and fresh chocolates made especially for the event! Don’t miss it!

reserve your seat here

“So, fall asleep love, loved by me… for I know love, I am loved by thee. ”
— Robert Browning

This coming Thursday, February 14th, is Valentine’s Day, a holiday that we associate with romantic love, flowers, and candy. But, how and when did this holiday begin? And why do we celebrate l’amour with Valentine’s Day cards and gifts of sweets?

Valentine’s Day, or more accurately, Saint Valentine’s Day, (or the Feast of Saint Valentine) began as a liturgical festival celebrating the life of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. According to early church history, there were several martyrs who went by the name Valentinus, but there are three specifically celebrated on February 14:

A popular legend surrounding Saint Valentine concerns his arrest for performing Christian marriages and spreading the ministry.  Condemned to death, he was imprisoned, and while awaiting execution he is said to have healed the blind daughter of his jailer. Just before he was led away, he wrote her a farewell note, which he signed, “Your Valentine,” thus providing the inspiration for our tradition of Valentine’s Day notes.

Another legend says that Saint Valentine performed clandestine marriages for Roman soldiers, who were forbidden to marry at that time. In order to remind the soldiers of God’s love and to remind them of their Christian vows, Valentine cut paper hearts out of parchment, giving them to the soldiers and other persecuted Christians. This is often cited as a possible source for our use of the heart as a symbol of Saint Valentine’s Day.

The first recorded association of Saint Valentine’s Day with romantic love comes from the medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer in his Parlement of Foules (1382):

“For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.”

(“For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate.”)

Chaucer wrote the poem to commemorate the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, both just 15 years old at the time of their wedding. Several other medieval authors mention Saint Valentine’s Day, including Shakespeare, and John Donne. But, it was Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queene (1590), who supplied the an early version of ‘roses are red’:

“She bath’d with roses red, and violets blew,
And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew.”

Clearly, the words resonated, because we then see the recognizable form in Gammer Gurton’s Garland (1784), a collection of English nursery rhymes:

heart-cupid“The rose is red, the violet’s blue,
The honey’s sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou’d be you.

From there, it was just a small step to 1797’s The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, a compilation of verses intended for use by those unable to compose their own sentiments. Eventually, printers began to reproduce these verses on card stock with romantic illustrations, creating the first direct ancestor of our modern Valentine’s Day card.

Since that time, Saint Valentine’s Day has established itself as a significant holiday, and traditions have expanded to include gifts of flowers, candy, treats, and many other affectionate tokens. And while the focus of the holiday may have shifted over the centuries from a liturgical expression to a gesture of love and affection, the current sentiment is clearly a treasured tradition that shows no signs of fading.

We’ll leave the flowers and cards to their respective industries, but we know a little something about good food. And Zingerman’s has many delicious sweets and treats available to help make your Valentine’s Day memorable.

The Zingerman’s Bakehouse will make you a delicious Valentine’s Day Cake, completely covered in hand-piped pink butter cream rosettes and a sprinkle of sparkle. Inside are tempting layers of buttermilk chocolate cake and a kiss of strawberry butter cream filling.  We also have Valentine’s Day Heart Cookies, delicious butter cookies with a hint of fresh citrus zest, and adorably decorated with fresh vanilla fondant that spells out expressions of love and affection.  Or, perhaps a loaf of heavenly Chocolate Cherry bread, made with the best Belgian and French chocolates and dozens of Michigan dried cherries!

The Zingerman’s Deli has more delectable Valentine’s Day sweets than a person could possibly eat in a sitting – but it would sure be fun to try! We’re currently taking pre-orders for our wonderful Chocolate Dipped fresh strawberries and Chocolate Covered fresh vanilla marshmallows from the Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory. Available for pickup at Zingerman’s Next Door 2/12, 2/13, & 2/14.  Call 734-663-3354 to pre-order.

chocolatestrawberries

The Deli also carries a huge selection of luscious chocolates, bonbons, truffles, and many other distinctive confections from Grocer’s Daughter, Chocolate Moderne, Sweet Gem Confections, Chocolate in Chelsea, and Fran’s Chocolates, and, of course, Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory. Let us create a custom gift box for your sweetie!

Don’t forget, you can find Zzang Bars and other Candy Manufactory delights at any of the Zingerman’s businesses! Adopt a delicious Zzang bar today!

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt. “
— Charles M. Schulz