Valentine’s Day is one of our favorite holidays at Scamps Toffee. Who wouldn’t love a holiday about spreading love! Don’t forget to grab a box of toffee for your sweetheart this year.

Let’s talk conversation hearts!

Conversation hearts have been a Valentine’s Day staple for the past 173 years. Whether you love the chalky candy, or hate it, you can’t deny that they’re a fun Valentine’s tradition! How did this tradition start?

Sweet Beginnings 

In 1847, pharmaceutical candy lozenges were all the rage. They were popularized for their ability to ease the effects of a sore throat, alleviate bad breath, or just to have candy to suck on. That said, the process of making candy lozenges was long and laborious. Boston-based pharmacist, Oliver Chase was determined to find an easier way to create these lozenges. With Industrialization coming to America, Chase invented a machine that would roll the lozenges dough and press them into perfect circles. This would eventually be considered the first candy machine.

Soon, Chase realized that he could use his machine to create candies. He abandoned his pharmaceutical endeavors and he and his brother went on to establish one of the oldest candy companies in America, New England Candy Company (Necco). Necco became wildly successful across the US. It is even rumored that Civil War soldiers carried these wafers with them during battle.

The Conversation Starts

The Chase brothers were itching for a new, fun idea for their wafers. In 1866, Daniel Chase had the brilliant idea to create wafers with phrases printed atop the candy. His inspiration is unclear, but there are two main theories that explain where the iconic idea originated. One theory points to the rise in popularity of Valentine’s Day cards. Namely, in the mid 1800s, Ester Howland began creating affordable Valentine’s Day cards. Perhaps Daniel Chase wanted to reinvent the Valentine’s Day card. Others suggest that Daniel pulled inspiration from another candy: cockles. Cockles featured a “motto” on a paper that was packaged with the candy. Regardless of how the conversation candy started, the brothers agreed the idea would be a success and began pressing phrases into their candies by rolling red vegetable coloring on the wafers with a felt roller.

When the conversation candies were first created, they were much larger than the conversation hearts that we’re used to. The candies were also circular and featured much longer messages, such as “HOW LONG SHALL I HAVE TO WAIT? PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE”.  In 1902 the iconic heart shape was finally introduced and the candies slowly became smaller. Now, they feature shorter, more relevant phrases like “Go girl” or “TXT ME”.

A not so sweet ending

 Unfortunately Necco’s story does not have a sweet ending. In 1990, Necco was acquired by Stark Candy Company and Necco’s hearts were rebranded to Sweethearts. As of 2020, Spangler Candy Company sells Sweethearts. Apparently, Sweethearts are now in short supply and some hearts may not even have a printed message on them! Luckily the conversation hearts have become so iconic that many other companies have created their own versions!

Have a happy Valentine’s Day, Scamps Friends! Don’t forget to spread some love with conversation hearts AND Scamps Toffee!

Valentine’s Day is one of our favorite holidays at Scamps Toffee. Who wouldn’t love a holiday about spreading love! Don’t forget to grab a box of toffee for your sweetheart this year.

Want to learn more Valentine’s Day history? Check out last year’s Valentine’s post:

https://www.scampstoffee.com/blogs/news/history-of-valentines-day-and-valentines-cards