The Cox family knows chocolate.

For the last 86 years, from generation to generation, they've produced some of the best quality chocolate in New England, and for the last three years they've been making Dorothy Cox's Chocolates right in the heart of Wareham.

"The way we do things has stayed the same for awhile," said Francis Cox Jr., president of Dorothy Cox's Chocolates and third generation chocolatier.

The company was started by Dorothy Cox in 1928 in New Bedford with the help of her brother, Joe, and four sisters. When Dorothy died in 1944 in the middle of World War II, Joe made torpedoes during the day and ice cream at night, leaving his wife to run the store.

The business was moved to Fairhaven after a fire in 1957, and after decades of growth, the Cox's moved their factory to Wareham three years ago because they needed a larger facility. 'Family-owned and operated' isn't just a motto at Cox's Chocolates, as Francis's parents, wife, brother, children, and other family members all play a part in the business.

Cox said the time they put into their products, and the subsequent quality of the products, is what sets Dorothy Cox's Chocolates apart.

He buys chocolate from three different sources in Pennsylvania and then "conches" it, which is the process of smoothing out and releasing flavor evenly throughout the chocolate over the course of a few days to ensure the best quality.

"We conch for 72 hours, whereas a company like Hershey might only conch for seven or eight hours," Cox said. "Basically what you're paying for is machine time."

Cox said most of the process has stayed the same since the company started in the 1920s, and the recipe for their famous butter crunch has remained almost entirely unchanged.

According to Cox, the company makes 250,000 pounds of candy each year, including all kind of treats from chocolate pretzels and chocolate figurines, Santa Clauses and Easter bunnies, to carmel popcorn and peanut brittle.

But the most popular Cox chocolates come from a process called "panning," which leads to chocolate covered raisins, nuts, malted milk balls, and cranberries.  Cox said they didn't begin panning chocolate until the late 80s, when they became one of the first chocolate factories to work with cranberries.

Today, panning chocolate makes up over 70 percent of their wholesale business.

Wholesale makes up 80 percent of Cox's total business, and he said many of the wholesale buyers are candy shops that buy his chocolate and sell it under their own name, though he said he doesn't mind.

"It's cool to walk in and see your stuff on the shelves and that they're proud enough to sell it under their own name."

Aside from Christmas, Easter is the busiest time of year.  Cox said they start producing Easter bunnies the day after Valentine's Day, and that they've already made around 30,000 bunnies for wholesale.

One bunny that isn't for sale is the 35-pound, hollow, chocolate bunny that's being raffled off at the Cox's office and factory at 8 Kendrick Road.

Even Willy Wonka couldn't dream that up.