The Little Heart Is The Big Winner

I love chocolate and thought everybody did. So I was very surprised to learn that chocolate is not the most popular Valentine’s Day candy. Want to know which one is?

The little hearted shaped candy with the sayings on them that we all remember from our own childhoods takes the prize. Invented by New England Confectionery Co (NECCO) and manufactured for more than 100 years, the candy heart is the number one selling Valentine’s Day candy in the country. In the six weeks between January 1^st and Valentine’s Day over eight billion of the candies are sold. The company produces 100,000 candies a day year round in order to fill the demand.

Invented by Daniel Chase in 1886 they were originally called Motto Hearts and were made in various shapes. The shape may have changed over the years but the recipe hasn’t. The candy hearts are 90% sugar. They’re fat and sodium free and only about 3 calories per small heart. The come in two sizes and have a shelf life of 3 or 4 years.

In addition to the original seven flavors, banana, orange, lemon, grape, wintergreen cherry and chocolate, in 2010 several new flavors were added. They included green apple, strawberry, and blue raspberry.

There have been over 100 sayings printed on the candies and NECCO has received thousands of suggestions over the years. They’ve even held contests to create new phrases. In 2010 “Tweet Me”, “Text Me” and “You Rock” were added to the old time favorites “Kiss Me”, “Sweet Talk” and “Be Mine”.

For a fee you can have your own saying printed on the hearts. There’s only one catch. The minimum order is 3,500 pounds which is about 1.6 million hearts. The total cost including making the print plates is approximately $7,600.00. But they do have a shelf life of 3 to 4 years.

As I said, I prefer chocolate and although we will design a gift basket including NECCO candy hearts if you ask, most of our clients prefer Lindt or Guylian, Ghirardelli or Cape Cod Candy in their Valentine Gift Baskets.

Whatever your favorite Valentine’s Day candy, we wish you the sweetest Valentine’s Day ever,

Marie

P.S.

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