A couple of weeks ago I was visiting friends in Pennsylvania and worked in a trip to Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market, one of my favorite places to visit. It’s a feast for the eyes and senses of every sort of food imaginable, from freshly butchered meats to just-picked produce to marbled cookies.
The Chocolate by Mueller display, tucked away in the 12th and Fulton Street corner of the market, grabbed my attention. It’s hard to walk past an anatomically correct chocolate heart without stopping. (Mueller is famous, or maybe infamous, for eccentric chocolate creations.) Then there were the chocolate pretzels. Top-quality Pennsylvania pretzels are robed in dark chocolate, white chocolate, milk chocolate, and/or peanut butter milk chocolate. The blend of salty crunch with smooth sweet chocolate is irresistible. I brought some home, and they disappeared fast.
Milk chocolate is the favored coating among Mueller’s customers, though I prefer the dark chocolate. You don’t have to travel to the Reading Market to buy these treats. You can buy the chocolate-covered pretzels, chocolate heart, and all sorts of other candies, ranging from sugar-free jelly beans to truffles, in the Chocolate by Mueller online candy store.
By the way, the best place to get plain Pennsylvania pretzels is the Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, the oldest (and to my mind, the best) commercial pretzel bakery in the United States.