Easter is the most important holiday in Christianity: the celebration of the resurrection of Christ, the cornerstone of the religion. But the Christian observance is often accompanied by a secular celebration marking the arrival of spring. On Easter Sunday, children and adults enjoy celebrating the arrival of the Easter Bunny dropping off baskets of chocolate treats in the middle of the night to delight children everywhere on Easter morning.  But where does all the chocolate come from?

In the mid 1800’s French and German chocolatiers saw a business niche to reward those on Easter who abstained from pleasures such as delicious chocolate during Lent, with symbolic chocolate eggs (said to represent Jesus' emergence from the tomb and resurrection) and chocolate bunnies ( clouded in mystery, the internet has several theories)  However, the chocolate bunny tradition really caught on in 1890, when a Pennsylvania drugstore owner named Robert Strohecker placed a five-foot-tall chocolate bunny in his display window. As you can guess the sales of the chocolate Easter bunny took off.  Last year over 90 million chocolate bunnies were created.  

History states that prior to World War II chocolate bunnies were always solid.  It was during the war when the War Production Board put mandatory rations on chocolate and cocoa, forcing chocolatiers to become creative. They were still able to use their existing molds, but by making the finished pieces hollow, they were able to deliver desired treats and conserve ingredients.  We are very much traditionalists here at Sweet Ashley’s Chocolate and our bunnies that are made here in Limerick, Pa  are solid chocolate.