"necco" news and stories

OK, let's be honest. Who hasn't thought she could do better than the people behind the Sweethearts slogans: "Call Me"? "Cloud Nine"? "Amore"? Please.

The folks at the New England Confectionery Co. have heeded your collective cry, so it's time to take to the Internet, poets, lovers and sugarcrazed civilians! In February 2010, every single one of those hearts will be named not by stuffy boardroom types, but by us commoners.

What's in it for you? Oh, you know, one lucky toothless person will win 1.6 million sweethearts that say whatever she wants them to say.

Learn how to win, after the jump.

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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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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.

Ever since I was a kid, I have loved the little sweethearts conversation hearts that Necco releases each year. Though they still produce some of the original sayings like "be mine" and "sweet talk", each year they add something new to the mix.

For 2007, they have joined forces with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) and released ten new "pet-friendly" sayings including "love bird", "bear hug", "purr fect", and "puppy love".

Did you know that you can have Necco custom imprint hearts with your own special message on them? Be warned though, you have to be willing to buy a full production run. According to their website, that is approximately 3,500 pounds of the six-flavored candies, or 1.6 million individual hearts. Or, you can just do what the rest of us do and buy the ones that they have already made.

Other than the actual sayings, the best part about the hearts is that they are fat-free, sodium-free, and only contain three calories per small heart and six calories per large heart. So, next time someone asks you to "be mine", "take a walk", or "kiss me", you can do so without guilt.

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Ask almost any kid what the lowest candy on the totem pole is and they will tell you wafer candies - assuming that they can even come up with the name of the category. These candies, which include the US Smarties (not the chocolate UK kind) and Necco Wafers, are made of pressed sugar and don't have nearly as much to recommend them as some of the chocolate, peanut butter and caramel candies that they have to compete with. That being said, however, they have been around for a long time and even if they are not the most popular candies, they always get eaten.

It's possible that the flavors have something to do with their inevitable consumption. One of the unusual things about these candies is that the coloring does not necessarily correspond to flavoring and that there are few cross-brand parallels. Lis of Riba's Ramblings put together a flavor vs. color comparison chart for four types of "popular" wafer candies - SweeTarts, Smarties, Necco Wafers and Sweethearts - so you'll know what it is that you're eating. Pink candies could be cherry or wintergreen. White wafers could be orange cream, cinnamon or mint. Green could be strawberry, lemon, lime or apple. The only color/flavor that was the same across the board was orange. Check out the rest of the table for a full breakdown.