One Wyoming Cowboy Is Working Overtime to Prep His Chocolate Truffles for Valentine’s Day

— -- The week before Valentine’s Day is a busy time of year for one Wyoming cowboy. Tim Kellogg, who has been creating artisan chocolates by hand for more than 12 years, will be working overtime so the shelves in his chocolate store will be stocked with hearts and truffles.

“I also have Valentine tea chocolate … it has a wonderful flavor, white tea with hibiscus and strawberry," Kellogg said. "It’s very smooth, fresh. We draw a chocolate heart on top of that truffle and people love it."

Kellogg, owner of Meeteetse Chocolatier, said a fight almost broke out once in one of his stores when customers started arguing over who would get the last sourdough pretzel rod dipped in caramel and Belgian milk chocolate.

Kellogg would not disclose his age or how much money his chocolate business makes each year, but in 2015 he added a second shop in Jackson, Wyoming. His original store is in Meeteetse.

The town, which residents call Jackson Hole, is nestled between steep, snow-covered mountains. The twinkling lights of homes and shops seemingly fold into the slopes. Tourists often come for skiing in winter, or pass through on their way to Yellowstone in the summer.

The full-time chocolatier is also a part-time cowboy, and in a past life he participated in rodeos. It was this love that led him to his current one - sculpting huckleberry truffles and baking rich, sage brownies.

“I started making chocolates to help pay for rodeo. Rodeo is one of the few sports where you pay to play,” Kellogg said. “I like using fine chocolates, but I’m also more Wyoming-centric in my flavors. I like to use a lot of sage, huckleberries, [and] prickly pear cactus fruit. I use local, Wyoming whiskey. My mocha is made with beans roasted here in Jackson Hole.”

The cowboy explained how his mother recommended that he use his grandmother’s recipe to make chocolates and sell them at a rodeo in Cody in order to raise money for a new saddle.

“Growing up, my grandmother was a phenomenal cook,” Kellogg said. “She would [make] shocking amounts of chocolates, sweets, brownies, cookies, things like that. But the only way to get to lick the spoon or beater or spatula was to work in her kitchen.”

He admitted he was “dead set against" his mother's fundraising idea. But he eventually warmed up to the idea and followed his grandmother’s recipes. Kellogg’s chocolates sold out every day of the rodeo. As his business took off, making chocolates became his full-time profession. He started teaching himself how to make new recipes and he now travels abroad to fine-tune his skills.

The sugary, warm scent of chocolate lightly dusts the air in the cowboy’s Jackson Hole shop.

“Since I’m using premium ingredients I don’t add any sugars to my chocolates, or stabilizers, additive preservatives, anything like that," Kellogg said. “So my chocolates have a very short shelf life. They’re best within five to seven days, because I want them to have the flavor, texture - not durability.”

Kellogg describes himself as “OCD” when setting up his store. Everything is perfectly arranged and the fresh chocolates are placed exactly where he thinks they will look best in the display.

“Some year I should really keep track of the number of truffles I make,” Kellogg said. “I do know that I buy the little truffle cups in cases of 10,000 and I go through about a case and a half a year, sometimes more or sometimes less. It varies by season.”

He only sells his chocolates by the piece, not by weight, and they range in price from $1 to as much as $6.

As a chocolate-maker, the cowboy appreciates Valentine’s Day.

“It’s fun on the 13th and 14th when you have someone running in, in a pure panic like, ‘I have to have these chocolates,'" he said. "There have been times where people are like 'If I don’t go home with eight of your peanut butter truffles, I will not be allowed in the door.'”

ABC News’ Morgan Korn and Jeesoo Park contributed to this report.