About DeFluri's Fine Chocolates

DeFluris’s Fine Chocolates opened its doors in 1985 in Vienna, Va. as both a bakery and maker of fine chocolates. In 1998, we moved our factory and showroom to the heart of historic downtown Martinsburg, West Virginia, where we focus entirely on our passion for making chocolates. We are a family operation that’s owned, loved, and tended daily by veteran chocolatiers Brenda and Charlie Casabona. Using pure, quality ingredients in time-perfected recipes, our confections are made on the premises using traditional artisan candymaking techniques. DeFluri’s Chocolates are sold in our retail store and other fine food shops in the continental United States. A selection of these fine chocolates is also available from our online store.

Kitchen

DeFluri’s 12,000 square-foot factory in Martinsburg, West Virginia, fills an expansive 30’s-era building that once housed a McCroy’s Five & Dime store.

Today the main factory floor houses the vast array of Charlie Casabona’s chocolate-making equipment. Massive mixers swirl vats of creamy chocolate. Finely calibrated conveyer belts cover DeFluri’s famous truffles, classic caramels and nuts, fruit cakes from a local monastary, and much more—with velvety, rich coats of chocolate. An antique foil–wrapping machine puts shiny colored foils on selected finished chocolates. Walk-in refrigerated rooms keep the final products and their ingredients at optimum cool temperatures.

The work done to renovate the building from a retail store into a chocolate kitchen is an example of adaptive reuse of an existing historic structure. The downtowns of yesteryear become the chic hot spots of tomorrow through a positive outlook on using what is available and having the vision to see the potential of an old building.

As more and more of spots such as Martinsburg are discovered by a generation of people who grew up in suburban enclaves of strip centers and with the need of having to drive everywhere to acquire goods and services, the future of the historic downtown area seems very bright to us

Our Candy

At DeFluri’s, we choose our ingredients with care, perfect our recipes over time, and make all of our chocolates with a loving, personal touch. We use pure and natural ingredients in recipes that have been honed by decades of chocolate making. We blend a wide variety of fresh ingredients and flavors, to create both the classic favorites you’ve loved since you were a kid, and innovative new delicacies, such as award-winning wine truffles and other spirited delights. We don’t use instant mixes, reconstituted cream powders and other time saving (but quality compromising) ingredients. Instead, we use fresh whipping cream, real butter, and cook our centers from scratch. It takes longer, and is more labor intensive, but the difference is readily apparent once you taste our chocolates. Unlike chocolates produced by many large manufacturers, DeFluri’s chocolates are each crafted, decorated, and inspected by individual chocolate makers.