Farmers markets, grocery stores, hardware stores, indie book stores and other local spots are among our favorite places to go souvenir shopping when we're on the road in the Midwest.
Here's another edition of Midwest Market Basket feature about some of our favorite Midwest products, shopping discoveries and where to find them.
It struck me as somewhat ironic that the first four letters of the Dietsch family's last name spelled out the word "diet", but that didn't much bother us as we sampled some of the long-time Findlay, Ohio company's house-made ice cream and selected some fine chocolates to take home with us for later snacking!
Dietsch Brothers was the one place everyone told us to visit when they learned we planned to stay a day in Findlay, and we figured something so highly recommended was a must-visit for us!
The company originally started during the late 1920s when Edward Dietsch bought a local Findlay candy company, opening it as an ice cream parlor and fine chocolate store with the help of his two younger brothers, Chris and Don.
The Dietsch family used their own family recipes and things went well until Edward's death in 1934.
Edward's wife Doris continued with the business, but the family found they had to close it when she died in 1937.
By the end of 1937, Chris and Don were ready to go into business again, purchasing a local bakery and reopening it on December 7 of that year.
They began producing the fine chocolates and ice cream using the same family recipes their older brother Edward used in the earlier store, as their youngest brother Roy began helping out at the business.
By 1938, Roy graduated from high school and the three brothers closed the bakery portion of the business to concentrate on chocolates and ice cream.
The Dietsch brothers all saw military service during World War II as their other siblings and extended family members kept the business going at home...even in the face of wartime sugar shortages and wartime rationing.
The family moved the original store across the street from its original downtown location in 1955, which was the store we visited during our recent trip to Findlay.
The family opened a second store on the east side of Findlay in 1974.
Death and retirements mean the original Dietsch brothers no longer run the store day-to-day, but a third generation of Dietsch family members continue to operate the business, offering the chocolates and ice cream enjoyed by several generations of Findlay residents and visitors.
We visited during what you might think would be a quiet weekday in downtown Findlay, but the store's spacious ice cream parlor was pretty busy as we took a seat and enjoyed some black cherry ice cream.
The chocolate side of the business also had plenty of customers as we selected a small box of chocolate-covered mint meltaways and ordered a quarter-pound bag of coconut haystack candies to take home with us.
A sweet ending to a nice day in Findlay!
Can't eat sugar? The store also has a nice selection of sugar-free sweet treats!
You can connect with Dietsch Brothers on their Web site, Facebook page or Twitter. Want a little virtual taste of the chocolates? Check out Dietsch Brothers' Pinterest or Instagram pages.
© Dominique King 2015 All rights reserved
In the freezer section, they have a sample box, which is open box lined with 16 scoops of different ice creams and topped with wax paper. It's a nice way to bring some ice cream home and sample everything.
Posted by: Kristian | May 26, 2015 at 10:27 AM
I was a little unsure about bringing ice cream home as I only had a small soft-side cooler, but I can see it might be an option in cooler weather. We did tuck our chocolate in the empty cooler to keep it out of the sun on the way back to Detroit :)
Posted by: Dominique King | May 27, 2015 at 09:59 AM