By Staff Writer: Jerri Clewis
If you’ve ever celebrated Valentine’s Day or endured a classroom party for the holiday, then you have probably encountered the chalky little candy hearts with brief words printed on them. Conversation hearts are a Valentine’s Day staple with a surprisingly long history.
The beloved holiday treat started in an unlikely place—a pharmacy. In 1847, Oliver R. Chase created a medication-cutting machine in his apothecary to increase the production speed of round disc lozenges for his customers. Later, he found he could swap out the medicinal and binding ingredients for sugar and flavoring, which led to the creation of the original Necco wafers, according to McGill University. That treat exists today, but Chase’s brother had an even better idea.
Around the 1860s, hollow candies often contained surprise messages, much like fortune cookies, which enthralled many customers with the trendy idea of finding phrases within their treats, according to Wockenfuss Candies. Daniel Chase, Oliver’s brother, began to experiment with printing messages directly on their wafer candies to appeal to that market. Those experiments helped him to refine a method of using a die-cut press and vegetable dyes to more easily print messages onto the wafers.
Some of these fun wafer treats from back then still exist today! Genesee County Village and Museum, a living history museum in New York, has a collection of wafer conversation candies from the 1880s in various shapes like crescents, horseshoes and even postage stamps. The statements on them reflect the times, featuring words like “Mother Knows I Am Out” and “Don’t You Forsake Me.”
At the turn of the century, NECCO began producing their wafers in heart shapes with shortened messages. The hearts we find in stores today are actually similar to the original recipe and design, but makers have updated the phrases to fit the modern age with messages like “Text Me” and more. There was even a period where Twilight helped inspire some of the messages on the candies.
Conversation hearts almost disappeared in 2018 when Necco closed its factories, but The Spangler Candy Company picked up the brand, bringing the treat back once more.