Chocolate Easter Eggs an Enstrom Candies Tradition
For more than 25 years Enstrom's has been creating hand decorated chocolate Easter eggs. Each spring several ladies pipe tubes of pastel icing onto 3,000 chocolate Easter eggs. The eggs are created in small, medium and large sizes, in either light or dark chocolate. The large eggs are called "Milk Chocolate Surprise Egg" as the inside is filled with candy. The eggs come in a variety of fillings such as: peanut butter, coconut, Swiss cream, pecan nut and more. After the eggs are decorated they are shipped to Enstrom's retail locations in Fruita, Arvada and Denver. I purchased our chocolate eggs in the Grand Junction store and they personalized them with our names.
Enstrom's is famous for their Almond Toffee Candy that originated right here in Grand Junction and was founded by Chet and Vernie Enstrom. Enstrom got his start in the candy business around 1919 at 17 years of age, when he went to work in the ince cream factory at Barthel's Confectionery in Colorado Springs. Many time when his shift ended, Chet would help out across the street in the adjacent candy factory, and he quietly began learning the candy-maker's art.
In 1929, Chet and his bride, Vernie, packed up their Model T and drove to Grand Junction, Colorado to begin a new life. There Chet and a partner, Harry Jones, launched the Jones-Enstrom Ice Cream Company, a business he pursued for the next thirty years.
On the side, Chet also pursued his favority hobby; handccrafting various confections. His specialty was almond toffee, and he practiced over and over at night and on weekends, making small batches of this hard-to-make treat as a gift for family and friends. By 1960, his almond toffee was being shipped worldwide. Family, friends and early gift-recipients pushed Chet and Vernie to make their passion into a business, and so Chet founded Enstrom Candies.
The Easter season would not be the same without our hand decorated chocolate eggs.
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