By Rhonda Westfall

Chocolate and mint. Like the commercial says, "It just doesn’t get any better."

Karl and Heather Hanover use the two heavenly ingredients every day to cook up batches and batches of the delectable candies that have helped put St. Johns, Michigan, quite literally on the map.

The outline of the state is impressed on every piece of Hanover's Michigan Mint Chocolates, easily recognizable even after the candies are wrapped in bright aqua, silver or purple foil papers.

"When we first had the idea to produce mint candies back in 1992, our test molds had only the lower peninsula of Michigan," Karl says, recalling the first samples of the now well-known local confection. "People liked the candy, but they wanted to see the U.P. as part of the design - we had new molds made right away."

It didn’t take long for Hanover's mints to expand from its modest beginning in the shop at the couple's home on South Oakland Street. They originally marketed the product themselves at area retail outlets before turning that end of the business over to sales representatives who service specialty stores.

"Probably 90 percent of sales are here in the state at stores that feature 'Michigan-made' products," Heather says of the 1 million Hanover candies that are shipped from the couple's shop each year. "We also take orders on-line at our web site, www.michiganmint.com"

The process of making the yummy candies begins in a commercial double boiler that melts 200 pounds of bulk chocolate - milk, dark, or white. It takes about six hours to melt each batch, and another two hours to "temper" the melted sweet stuff into the proper consistency for candy-making.

Each batch yields approximately 12,000 candies with the distinctive minty taste that comes from pure mint oil purchased from local growers. About a cup of mint oil is used in each batch.

It takes another two hours to pour each batch of chocolate into the Michigan molds which are then cooled down in a special compartment in the Hanover shop. Wrapping the candies in foil used to be a real labor of love - each piece was hand-wrapped when the business first started.

"We were able to purchase a machine that had been used by Russel Stover that can wrap about 100 pieces a minute," Karl says of the speeded-up process - that still requires a set of hands to place the individual candies on the conveyor belt where they're machine-wrapped before another set of hands takes the finished pieces off the belt.

Watching Karl and Heather do their wrapping thing is like seeing an "I Love Lucy" rerun - although Heather does manage to keep up without popping any candies into her mouth.

The Hanover's also do special orders for businesses and individuals who want a specific mold imprint.

"We've done a number of molds with logos of businesses, and 'wedding' molds that couples use for table treats and decorations," Heather says.