This coming weekend brings a holiday that has different meanings to everyone. Some think its significance is inflated by Hallmark while others view it as a day to pamper their significant others with love. Regardless of the meaning behind Valentine's Day, the day is represented with infinite material objects such as stuffed teddy bears, sentimental cards, and of course, candy.
Candy hearts are perhaps America's favorite nostalgic Valentine's Day candy. NECCO's Sweethearts Conversation Hearts continue to be popular since their creation in 1866, selling eight billion hearts a year.
NECCO, the country's oldest candy company, has facilities in Massachusetts, Louisiana, and even Pewaukee, Wis., an hour east of Madison.
The recipe for these chalky sugar treats has remained unchanged. Its ingredients include 90 percent sugar, gelatin, corn syrup, gums, artificial flavorings and colorings.??
Sound easy to make? Candy is actually made here at UW-Madison during one of the labs for a Food Science course taught by Professor Hartel. There are two forms of candy, either a tablet or a lozenge, both of which are made in the lab. High pressure is used to create tablets, whereas liquid paste is used to hold together lozenges. Some examples of tablets include Pez and Smarties whereas candy hearts are lozenges. In fact, the machine that gave rise to Conversation Hearts in 1866 was called the Lozenge Printing Machine.??
Making candy hearts is almost like baking cookies. First a paste is made by mixing together water, gelatin and corn syrup. Next, the binder is added to the sugar powder and color and flavorings are mixed in the process. The dough is then rolled and cut into desired shapes using a cookie cutter or knife. Lastly, the candies are left to dry.
If tried at home, a few cookie sheets full of candies could be made in a day's work, whereas on NECCO's busiest day, up to 100,000 pounds of hearts are made. You can get hearts customized for only $600 for a printing plate and two dollars for each pound of hearts. There's only one catch-there's a 3,500 pound minimum, amounting to about 1.5 million hearts and a total of $7,600!
An easier and less expensive way to enjoy these Valentine's Day treats is to bundle up and walk to a candy retailer near you to pick up a bag or box. Roses-R-Red (502 State St.) offers the classic boxed version of NECCO's candy hearts. Like most candy stores, Valentine's Day is their biggest holiday for candy, according to the manager.??
If you are willing to try something new, check out Walgreen's selection. There are Conversation Hearts to satisfy every sweet tooth-ranging from NECCO's tiny, large and tart hearts to Starburst's Friendship hearts.
Although the Starbursts hearts were pricier than the original NECCO brand, UW-Madison sophomore Jensi Carlson said \the Starbursts were worth the $2.99 because they were actually a good legitimate candy"" when compared to the traditional taste of NECCO candy hearts. UW-Madison sophomore Dori Frankovics was surprised that she liked the Starbursts variety and did ""like the original, but in the box"" because they reminded her of elementary school. The tart hearts took a while to get used to after Andrea Zelisko pointed out they ""smell like Mr. Clean.""
The NECCO hearts come in six different flavors according to their color-white are wintergreen, yellow are banana, green are lemon, pink are cherry, orange are orange and purple are grape.
Candy heart sayings began in the early 1900s with phrases such as ""How long shall I have to wait? Pray be considerate"" and ""Please send a lock of your hair by return mail."" Since then, the sayings have been shortened, but some still remain, such as ""Be True,"" ""Sweet Talk,"" and ""My Man.""??
Perhaps a sign of the time, a company called Despair is marketing candy hearts online that express sentiments for the dejected or dysfunctional. Sayings inside the ""Valentine's candies for the dysfunctional"" box include ""C That Door?,"" ""Parole is Up!"" and ""U + Me = Grief.""?? ""U C My Blog?"", ""Table for 1,"" and ""I Cry on Q.""
Make sure to look for new sayings on NECCO hearts. Every year since the early 1990s, NECCO has replaced dead sayings with ten new ones. All year round, suggestions are sent to NECCO marketing manager, Lory Zimbalatti.
??Have you noticed themes with these sayings? The 10 new sayings put out each year are in conjunction with a theme. This year's theme is sweet dreams and new beginnings, according to www.neeco.com, and includes sayings such as ""Ever After,"" ""New You"" and ""3 Wishes."" Limited edition hearts are also being made this year to match Love stamps put out by the United States Postal Service. In 2003, the theme was reading and included sayings such as ""Whiz Kid"" and ""Pen Pal."" Two years ago, ""Look Good"" was one of the sayings for the fashion runway theme.
??If you can't find your favorite catchy phrase on a heart, send your creative ideas to eatwafers1@necco.com. Good luck, ""Q-T Pie.""
