Love Hearts are a type of confectionery manufactured by

Swizzels Matlow Swizzels Matlow Limited, branded as Swizzels, is a confectionery manufacturer based in New Mills, Derbyshire, near Stockport in the United Kingdom.Manchester Evening News 5 April 2012 Thursday Confectioners are making a lot of lolly The compan ...

in the United Kingdom. They are hard, tablet-shaped sweets in various fruit flavors featuring a short, love-related message on one side of the sweet. They are an updated version of Victorian-era Conversation Lozenges.

Sensation in mouth

On chewing, the sweet quickly disintegrates into a powdery, starchy consistency.

Flavors

Love Hearts currently come in six flavors, each associated with a color (listed from weakest to strongest flavor):.. #White (a plain, sherbet-like, slightly tart

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

flavor) #Yellow (a sherbet-like flavor with a distinct sharp

lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

aftertaste) #Green (a slight

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

flavor with a sherbet-like aftertaste) #Orange (a sweet flavor with a slight

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

aftertaste) #Purple (an unusual, slightly perfumed berry-like flavor with a strong aftertaste) #Red ( cherry flavor)

Appearance

The sweets are circular, approximately in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...

, and in height (including the embossed decorations). Both sides are embossed with a decoration, the rear with a large outline of a

heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

and the front with the message within an outline of a heart. On the front of the sweet the embossing is highlighted with a red coloring. The main body of the sweet is colored in one of the 7 colors: white, yellow, orange, green, purple, red or a plain color. Especially for the darker red and purple colorings, this coloring is somewhat blotchy.

Messages

There are many different messages which can be found on the front of the sweet, most of which are love-related. The message is written in capitals in a

sans serif In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif, gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than ser ...

font of varying size. The font is scaled and sometimes stretched out of proportion to fit the available space.

Examples

There are many messages (it is uncommon to find more than 3 repeats in a packet of 20). These include: The messages have been updated many times, for example: * Addition of phrases including modern technology - e.g. "

Fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...

Me", "

Email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...

Me", "Call me" and "

Page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

Me". * Addition of phrases in "

SMS language Short Message Service (SMS) language, textism, or textese is the abbreviated language and slang commonly used in the late 1990s and early 2000s with mobile phone text messaging, and occasionally through Internet-based communication such as ema ...

" typical of

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

messages - e.g. "Luv U 24/7" * Addition of emoji faces

Unusual messages

Most messages are written in simple horizontal, centrally aligned lines. There are some exceptions to this rule, including the phrase "I Surrender", where the word surrender has been written in an arc around the lower inside edge of the heart outline. The "

Just Say No "Just Say No" was an advertising campaign prevalent during the 1980s and early 1990s as a part of the U.S.-led war on drugs, aiming to discourage children from engaging in illegal recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying ''no'' ...

" message has an unclear layout, appearing to read "Just say No". Wayne and

Coleen Rooney Coleen Mary Rooney ( McLoughlin; born 3 April 1986) is the wife of former English footballer Wayne Rooney. She is also a former television personality. Early life and family Coleen Mary McLoughlin was born in Liverpool, Merseyside, to Tony an ...

had personalized sweets made for their wedding in the summer of 2008 which read "Wayne and Coleen". Special edition Love heart packs were launched for Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011. A competition was held by Swizzels Matlow Ltd for 10 new messages to be put on Love Hearts; the winning entries (announced on 22 July 2008) were "Think Pink", "Joyful Jo", "Granny P", "Me Julie Best Mum", "Juicy Jessie", "I Luv Alan", "Happy Harry", "Heart Baby", "Kin of U Home", and "Mermaid Eloise". These sweets first appeared in packs in September 2008.

Packaging

Love Hearts are packaged and typically sold in tubular packs of 20 (which are in turn boxed in packs of 50 for

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

). The packaging is a clear plastic wrap (twisted at both ends) wrapped in a paper label. Alternative package sizes are available under special circumstances, such as the 2006 "silver love heart" competition, where the packet size was temporarily increased. Different sizes have also been released, including giant and small Love Hearts. The label depicts the phrase "Love Hearts" bordered by two rows of stylized love hearts. It also carries a

barcode A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or o ...

, an ingredients list and the best before date. The sweets on the label currently carry the messages: and have emojis among them. The colors of the sweets on the label do not correspond to the colors found within the packet: *Label colors: white, yellow, peach (light orange), green and blue *Actual colors: white, yellow, orange, green, purple and red The

shelf life Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a ...

(indicated by the best before date) is approximately a year and a half.

History

Production of Love Hearts began in 1954, 26 years after the formation of Swizzels Ltd. The company was initially in factory premises at Star Lane, Canning Town, London, moving later that year to the larger premises at Drivers Avenue, Plaistow, London. During

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

in 1940, production relocated to a disused textile mill in

New Mills New Mills is a town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England, south-east of Stockport and from Manchester at the confluence of the River Goyt and Sett. It is close to the border with Cheshire and above the Torrs, a deep gorge cut t ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, where it has stayed to this day.

Production method

Production of Love Hearts has changed little since 1933, although it has become more mechanized and less labor-intensive. The production is a pressed tablet method, similar to many

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field an ...

products (see tablet for the medicine production process). #

Granulated sugar White sugar, also called table sugar, granulated sugar, or regular sugar, is a commonly used type of sugar, made either of beet sugar or cane sugar, which has undergone a refining process. Description The refining process completely removes ...

is ground to a very fine powder. #The sugar is separated into lines for each flavor of Love Heart. #Colors, flavorings, and the other ingredients (all fine powders) are added and mixed. #The mixture is fed into a tablet machine where it is compressed under high pressure into a tablet. This is the stage where the message is imprinted onto the front of the love heart, depending on the mold used for pressing. #The highlights on the front are "painted". #The different colors and flavors are randomly mixed, then packaged.

Ingredients

Sugar, Acidity Regulators:

Malic Acid Malic acid is an organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a dicarboxylic acid that is made by all living organisms, contributes to the sour taste of fruits, and is used as a food additive. Malic acid has two stereoisomeric forms ( ...

Tartaric Acid Tartaric acid is a white, crystalline organic acid that occurs naturally in many fruits, most notably in grapes, but also in bananas, tamarinds, and citrus. Its salt, potassium bitartrate, commonly known as cream of tartar, develops naturally ...

; sodium bicarbonate, stearic acid,

Modified starch Modified starch, also called starch derivatives, are prepared by physically, enzymatically, or chemically treating native starch to change its properties. Modified starches are used in practically all starch applications, such as in food produ ...

, E470b, Anti-Caking Agent: Magnesium Carbonate;

Flavourings A flavoring (or flavouring), also known as flavor (or flavour) or flavorant, is a food additive used to improve the taste or smell of food. It changes the perceptual impression of food as determined primarily by the chemoreceptors of the gust ...

, Colors: E100 (

turmeric Turmeric () is a flowering plant, ''Curcuma longa'' (), of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, the rhizomes of which are used in cooking. The plant is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast ...

curcumin Curcumin is a bright yellow chemical produced by plants of the ''Curcuma longa'' species. It is the principal curcuminoid of turmeric (''Curcuma longa''), a member of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is sold as a herbal supplement, cosmet ...

), E104 (

Quinoline Yellow WS Quinoline Yellow WS is a mixture of organic compounds derived from the dye Quinoline Yellow SS (spirit soluble). Owing to the presence of sulfonate groups, the WS dyes are water-soluble (WS). It is a mixture of disulfonates (principally), monos ...

), E110 (

Sunset Yellow FCF Sunset yellow FCF (also known as orange yellow S, or C.I. 15985) is a petroleum-derived orange azo dye with a pH dependent maximum absorption at about 480 nm at pH 1 and 443 nm at pH 13 with a shoulder at 500 nm. When added to f ...

), E122 (

Azorubine Azorubine is an azo dye consisting of two naphthalene subunits. It is a red solid. It is mainly used in foods that are heat-treated after fermentation. It has E number E122. Uses In the US, this color was listed in 1939 as FD&C Red No. 10 f ...

), E124 (

Ponceau 4R Ponceau 4R (known by more than 100 synonyms,Abbey J, et at. Colorants. pp 459-465 in Encyclopedia of Food Safety, Vol 2: Hazards and Diseases. Eds, Motarjemi Y et al. Academic Press, 2013. including as C.I. 16255,FDA. 9 November 2008Food and ...

), E129 (

Allura Red AC Allura Red AC is a red azo dye that goes by several names, including FD&C Red 40. It is used as a food dye and has the E number E129. It is usually supplied as its red sodium salt, but can also be used as the calcium and potassium salts. These ...

), E132 (

Indigo carmine Indigo carmine, or 5,5′-indigodisulfonic acid sodium salt, is an organic salt derived from indigo by aromatic sulfonation, which renders the compound soluble in water. It is approved for use as a food colorant in the U.S and E.U. to produce ...

Elderberry ''Sambucus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to ge ...

Extract.

Whatevers

UK supermarket

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorks ...

produce a brand of sweets called 'Whatevers', in the style of Love Hearts, but with a range of British colloquial terms. The sweets are also manufactured by Swizzels Matlow.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Swizzels Maltow Ltd. WebsiteOfficial Love Hearts Website
Swizzels Matlow brands Products introduced in 1933 Brand name confectionery