 Conversation
Hearts - Let's Talk
By Terry
Kaufman
Do you remember the excitement and anticipation that
came with every Valentine’s Day when we were kids? It
became almost a competition to see which kid in your
classroom managed to garner the most of the flimsy punch-out
Valentine’s cards with their even flimsier envelopes.
Free
Conversation Hearts Clip Art - click here
In spite of the enthusiasm for the cards portraying
the cultural icons of that particular year, the biggest
attraction of the day was getting Conversation Hearts,
the more the merrier. That’s what Valentine’s Day was
and still is for most kids.
The idea of Conversation Hearts has been around since
the late 1800s. The first “conversations” candies were
not in the shape of a heart but rather shaped as sea
shells. The text was printed on a foil wrapper and not
on the actual candy.
The first Motto Candy was invented in 1900 but it still
was not heart-shaped. For some strange reason, perhaps
to allow for longer imprinted sayings, these Sweet Heart
candies were in the shape of baseballs, horseshoes,
postcards, and watches. With the passage of time, the
sayings got shorter and shorter and were reduced to
one or two lines of sentiment which fit perfectly on
a heart-shaped candy.
Candy Hearts Clip Art - click here
In 1900, four candy companies merged together to become
the New England Confectionary Company or NECCO. The
candy companies NECCO, Brachs, and Jelly Belly are the
three primary manufacturers of the Conversation Hearts
in the early 21st century. No matter who makes this
Valentine treat, about 8 billion hearts are produced
each year.
Even though the peak selling season is a mere 6 weeks,
the confectionary companies produce the hearts for 11
months of the year. Gee, I wonder what kind of preservative
is used to give them such a long shelf life. Maybe I
don’t want to know.
Conversation Hearts are made by man and machine working
together. There are 7 major steps in creating these
candies:
- Step 1 - Combine sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch,
flavors, gums, and colors into the mixing machine;
- Step 2 - The machine mixes the ingredients together
until they form a dough, much like the consistency
of Play-Dough©;
- Step 3 - The dough goes through a machine that presses
the dough until it is flat;
- Step 4 - The “conversation” words are applied to
the dough and are then cut out of the dough in heart
shapes. The candy drops onto a conveyor belt;
- Step 5 - The hearts take a 30-minute ride through
a drying tunnel;
- Step 6 - The six different flavors are mixed together;
and
- Step 7 - the Conversation Hearts are bagged, boxed,
and ready to eat.
In  2006,
NECCO added a preposition and conjunction to its mix
of sayings so that sweet sentiments might be spelled
out more grammatically. NECCO has attempted, over the
years, to include sentiments in line with the current
culture. The candies come in 2 sizes - small and large.
The small heart has room for approximately two words
of four letters each, while the larger hearts can contain
two words of five letters each.
Whatever their size or sayings, Conversation Hearts
are and will be timeless.
Terry Kaufman is Chief Editorial Writer
for Niftykitchen.com,
Niftyhomebar.com,
and Niftygarden.com.
©2006 Terry Kaufman.Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terry_Kaufman
http://EzineArticles.com/?Conversation-Hearts---Lets-Talk&id=402916
|
 Valentine
Clip Art
Print
Free Valentines
Kids
Valentine Cards
Valentine
Coloring Book
Fun Printable Valentines Games
FREE Easy Valentine
Crafts and Cards - sweet, sentimental, sassy or sensuous - creative Valentine
fun for all ages
Free
Clip Art & Paper Crafts
|
