Bluebird Chocolates
There is a lot more behind a Bluebird chocolate than just a chocolate-covered candy.
Joanne Frasier, an office worker at Bluebird Candy Company in Logan, said the present candy store was not always just for candy. Frasier said the store began in 1914 as a soup and sandwich shop located on east Center Street in Logan. In the 1920s, the restaurant was built and the production of the candy was in a small building behind the restaurant. Years later, Frasier said Bluebird Candy moved into their current building, at 75 W. Center in Logan, which had previously been a hotel.
Frasier said Bluebird Candy is presently known for its wide variety of homemade and handmade products.
“Everything is done as it always has been, from the original recipes and the whole bit,” Frasier said. “When the store was bought, it already had a good reputation, and they were not going to mess with it. We do things as they always have been done.”
Bluebird Candy products range from roasted nuts to chocolate-covered and caramel-covered popcorn. However, its chocolate is what Frasier said sets Bluebird Candy apart from the rest.
“I love a Snicker’s candy bar,” Frasier said. “But if you look closely, you will see they have a paper-thin layer of chocolate around the bar. With our candy, you get that thick shell of chocolate all the way around.”
Frasier said one of the company’s more popular chocolates is the Victoria, which has a rum-flavored center with a chopped pecan inside the middle. Other favorites include the Caramel Brazil, which has the same center as the old Aggie bars, just in a bite-sized piece.
Bluebird chocolates come in both milk and dark chocolate, which Frasier said adds a variety to match each person’s taste.
Frasier said she was once told dark chocolate is more popular on the East and West coasts, whereas the milk chocolate is more popular in the Midwest.
She said each product is made according to need. To prepare for Valentine’s Day, they start making chocolates in September and they produce candy three days a week. Frasier said on average, they have six people working each of those days to produce the finest product. However, during the Christmas season, the workers triple in number, she said.
The production of the chocolates can be a timely process depending on what type of product is being made.
The kitchen in Bluebird Candy is a large room where the candy is cooked and created. The room contains large copper pots which the candy is cooked in, and a large mixer which beats and mixes the candy. Frasier said the candy becomes sugary by making it in a metal bowl and stirring it with a metal spoon.
The candy is then set out to allow it to set up before it is taken into dipping. The dipping process is a lot more difficult than many people realize, Frasier said, and it takes close to six weeks before an amateur’s dipped chocolates are able to be sold.
To distinguish what type of flavor is in the chocolate, Frasier said each individual chocolate flavor has a mark. She also said a tip for creating the mark on top of the chocolate is to add water. The water will make the chocolate mark pop out more on the top of the candy.
For some types of chocolate, the candy will proceed through a piece of machinery known as the enrober, Frasier said. The enrober covers the bottom of the chocolate by placing the product on a track which goes over a wheel of chocolate.
The chocolate is then taken into the boxing room, where it is placed in a candy wrapper and then in boxes, and becomes ready to sell. Frasier said the final product is taken into the cool room, which is a room lined with shelves filled with boxes of chocolates.
Frasier said their product is one of the best because it is done the way it always has been for years.
“We do not mess with the good quality of our product,” she said. “You get a lot more chocolate here and a lot more product.”
-courtnie.packer@aggiemail.usu.edu
Joanne Frasier, office worker at Bluebird Candy Company, stands by one of many tables full of chocolates. (Patrick Oden)