There are many things that might come to mind when you think of Valentine’s day. Your mind might jump to flowers, candy, cards – the list could go on and on. For all those that love candy, specifically chocolate, Valentine’s day is the perfect holiday: candy is given a large display in stores and is heavily discounted. Though chocolate is perhaps the most common Valentine’s candy, a close second is candy hearts. These multi-colored heart-shaped candies have many different names: conversation hearts, candy hearts, Sweethearts or even sometimes kind hearts. Many people love these little sweets inscribed with cute messages like “Me & You,” “Text Me” or “Soul Mate,” but in my opinion, candy hearts are the worst of the traditional Valentine’s Day sweets.
Candy hearts are mainly available in loud and artificial-tasting flavors like banana, blue raspberry and even wintergreen – all of which struggle to mask their overall chalky taste. Beyond their interesting flavor, these treats are also very tough and difficult to chew. The two main ingredients in candy hearts are sugar and artificial dyes, making them – in their most simple form – nothing more than dyed sugar cubes with text on top of them, except they taste much worse. For as much sugar as these candies contain, their only taste, besides any that are artificial, is that of chalk. There is also something to be said for the myriad of corny sayings printed on top of these treats. Though they have changed over the years in order to better fit their time period, these expressions have nonetheless remained strange as well as somehow simultaneously outdated and ahead of their time. A couple of examples of these interesting phrases are “Snug as a Bug” or “Be Good to Me”. For these reasons, I give candy hearts 2 out of 5 anchors.
