Celebrating Love: Valentine’s Reads

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and the stores are stocked with all kinds of Valentine’s candy, including, of course, those sweet messages in heart-shaped form, conversation hearts.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Valentine’s Day isn’t the same without at least seeing them while you’re out and about. But how did they get their start? Were they born out of some sweet, romantic gesture?

Not exactly…

It turns out, a pharmacist in Boston is responsible for these little candy love notes. In the 1840s, Oliver Chase decided he wanted to start selling apothecary lozenges. Medicinal lozenges were all the rage at the time, and he wanted to get in on the action. However, the process of making the lozenges was long and a huge pain, so Mr. Chase invented a machine that would roll out the dough and cut it into discs. (It is considered the first candy-making machine.) It wasn’t long before Mr. Chase abandoned the pharmacy business, teamed up with his brother, and created a candy company, Chase and Company, which eventually became the New England Confectionary Company or, as you may know it, NECCO. The candies they were creating, which had become so popular, were the first NECCO wafers.

How, then, did they evolve into those heart-shaped companies we identify with the holiday?

Although some say that they were born out of the tradition of sending love notes to soldiers during the Civil War, and they started printing the greetings on the candy so that ladies back home could send candy greetings to their loved ones, it was likely a simple business decision.

Apparently, Mr. Chase’s brother, Daniel, saw how popular Valentine’s cards were becoming at the time, and set out to figure out how to print greetings on the NECCO wafers with vegetable dye (a kind of edible Valentine’s card, I imagine), which they started doing in 1866. Instead of “KISS ME” and “XOXO,” however, the wafer candies sported messages such as “MARRIED IN WHITE YOU HAVE CHOSEN RIGHT,” “PLEASE SEND A LOCK OF YOUR HAIR BY RETURN MAIL” (ewwww), and “HOW LONG SHALL I HAVE TO WAIT? PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE.” (The candies were clearly MUCH larger than what we see today. And, can we agree, creepier?)

Although they did eventually start cutting them into shapes such as horseshoes, postcards and seashells, the actual heart shapes weren’t sold until 1902.

As you may know, conversation hearts were missing from store shelves for a couple of years after the NECCO company filed for bankruptcy in 2018. However, the Spangler company took over the brand in 2019, and those adorable little hearts returned to shelves in 2021 with great fanfare.

So, tell me, do you love conversation hearts or hate them? I’m not sure there is an in-between.

Whatever candy you may choose to enjoy this Valentine’s Day, I hope you have a wonderful day full of lots of love!