"ConversationHearts" news and stories

The iconic Necco Wafer is going au naturale.

The revamped product is now using red beet juice, purple cabbage, cocoa powder, paprika and turmeric to replace the artificial ingredients that had been flavoring and coloring the wafers for years.

But not every wafer made the cut.

We wrote earlier about Necco's new Conversation Hearts with foodie sayings. Well Conversation Hearts have popped up again on our interwebs today, this time in the form of artist Nathan Sawaya's Necco Human Heart. Oh yes, this is indeed an anatomically correct heart made up of hundreds of pink, yellow and purple Conversation Hearts. Sawaya writes: "I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day. It is a made up holiday and makes more people feel sad than happy. It can make your heart feel vulnerable. Almost edible." Amen.

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This year's batch of Sweethearts Conversation Hearts have a foodie theme, inscribed with sayings like "Recipe 4 Love," "Top Chef," "Sugar Pie," "Table 4 Two," and "Yum Yum." Beats the "B My Sweetie" hearts of my childhood, which were always embarassing to eat in public when you were 12.

A brief walk down Conversation Heart memory lane: I used to live in Cambridge, Massachusetts and would sometimes walk past the old New England Confectionery Company factory, where they made Conversation Hearts and Necco wafers (New England Confectionery Company, get it). The factory was a brick fortress, with ancient studded steel doors and high rusted fences. On the very top was a water tower painted rainbow colors to look like a roll of Necco wafers. When the candy machines were rollin,' you could smell that musty, spicy-sweet scent for a mile and see pastel-colored steam billowing out the smoke stack. A real Yankee version of Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

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A Valentine's Day candy staple is getting some bite.

The New England Confectionery Co., NECCO, plans to expand its 143-year-old Sweethearts Conversation Hearts line next month with treats inspired by the Stephenie Meyer vampire series "Twilight."

The candymaker will sell tiny hearts in early March with sayings like "I ♥ EC," "Lion and Lamb," "Bite Me," "Dazzle" and "Live 4 Ever," a NECCO official told AOL Food on Friday. The new hearts are tied to the March 21 "Twilight" DVD release and part of a larger Sweethearts overhaul.

Check out Holidash's article on the Newest Conversation Heart Saying.

We love those conversation hearts from Necco (and, what the heck, the knockoffs too, whether they be bitter or sweet or plain obnoxious). When I was a little girl whose head was filled with images of princess hats, men on white horses, and endless gifts of Whitman's Samplers and sugary candy and roses for Valentine's Day, I imagined the time when my sweetheart would express his love with those sweet, sweet hearts.

But it's never really happened as in my dream. When my husband proposed? It wasn't by handing me a candy heart imprinted in pink smudged block letters with "MARRY ME."

Has that ever happened, to you or someone you know? Please do share.

[Photo Sarah Gilbert]