Dipped in Tradition

Virginia Little is 87 years old, but five days a week she still comes into Moore’s Candies in Baltimore to dip chocolates. She’s been a fixture at the family-run candy company since it opened. That was back in the early 1920s, when Little was 16 years old.

Since then Moore’s Candies has occupied the basement of a brick row house in East Baltimore. Owner Jim Heyl, who was raised on the house’s upper level (where his parents still live), took over the business from his father 11 years ago. But the senior Heyl has not completely retired: He still makes a lot of the deliveries to surrounding gift shops and florists, where the chocolates are sold.

Most of the Moore’s business is wholesale, but recently the company began to sell retail as well. Rhonda Cenci, who works at Moore’s, says that the shop keeps very little stock on hand; the Heyls want their candies to be fresh. “If you want something that’s not available,” she says, “we’ll make it.”

Cenci says the employees are allowed to eat all the candy they want. Her favorites? “That’s hard to say.” She hesitates. “I love the caramels . . . the nougats . . . oh, yeah, and the cashew crunch . . . and the creams.” They were our favorites too.

A one-pound box of assorted chocolates is $8.29, plus $4.13 shipping. The chocolates even come with a handwritten thank-you card.

Moore’s Candies 3004 Pinewood Ave. Baltimore, Md. 21214 (410) 426-2705 Check or Money Order