Love Hearts facts for kids
Love Hearts are popular sweets made by a company called Swizzels Matlow in the United Kingdom. They are small, hard candies shaped like tablets. Each sweet has a short, sweet message about love on one side. They are a modern version of old-fashioned "conversation lozenges" from the Victorian era.
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The Story of Love Hearts
Love Hearts started being made in 1954. This was 26 years after the company, Swizzels Ltd, first began. The first factory was in London, in an area called Star Lane. Later that same year, they moved to a bigger factory in Plaistow, London.
During World War II, in 1940, the company moved its production. They went to an old textile factory in New Mills, Derbyshire. Love Hearts are still made there today!
How Love Hearts Are Made
Love Hearts are made using a special method, much like how some medicines are made. First, sugar is ground into a very fine powder. This powder is then separated for each different flavour of Love Heart.
Next, colours, flavours, and other ingredients are added and mixed together. This mixture then goes into a machine. The machine presses the mixture very hard. At this stage, the sweet message is pressed onto the front of the Love Heart.
After that, a red food dye is used to make the message stand out. This makes it easier to read on the sweet. Finally, all the different colours and flavours are mixed up randomly. They are then packaged together for you to enjoy!
What Love Hearts Look Like
Love Hearts are round, about 19 millimeters wide. They are about 5 millimeters tall, including the raised designs. Both sides of the sweet have a design. The back has a big outline of a heart. The front has the message inside a heart outline.
The message on the front is highlighted with red colouring. The main part of the sweet comes in six colours: white, yellow, orange, green, purple, or red. When you chew a Love Heart, it breaks down into a soft, powdery texture.
There are many different messages you can find on Love Hearts. Most of them are about love, like "Be Mine," "Love You," and "I Surrender." The messages are written in capital letters. They use a simple, clear font that changes size to fit the space. Most messages are written in straight lines in the middle.
Sometimes, the words are arranged differently. For example, the message "I Surrender" has the word "Surrender" curved around the bottom edge of the heart.
Famous people have even had special Love Hearts made! Wayne and Coleen Rooney had sweets that said "Wayne and Coleen" for their wedding in 2008. Special Love Heart packs were also made for Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011.
In 2008, Swizzels Matlow held a competition. People could suggest new messages for Love Hearts. Ten winning messages were chosen. These included "Think Pink," "Joyful Jo," and "I Luv Alan." These new sweets appeared in packs in September 2008.
In 2022, Love Hearts were temporarily renamed "Kind Hearts." This was part of a project with YoungMinds, a UK charity. These Kind Heart packs had eight new messages. Some of these were "Be You," "You're Loved," and "Be Kind."
How Love Hearts Are Packaged
Love Hearts are usually sold in long, tube-shaped packs of 20 sweets. These packs are then put into boxes of 50 for shops. The sweets are wrapped in clear plastic, twisted at both ends. A paper label is wrapped around the plastic.
Sometimes, different package sizes are made for special events. For example, in 2006, there was a "silver love heart" competition. For this, the packet size was made bigger for a short time. You can also find giant and small Love Hearts!
The label on the pack shows the words "Love Hearts." It has two rows of stylish love hearts around the words.
Other Kinds of Sweets Like Love Hearts
The UK supermarket Asda sells sweets called 'Whatevers'. These sweets look like Love Hearts. But instead of love messages, they have British everyday sayings. These 'Whatevers' sweets are also made by Swizzels Matlow.
See also
- Sweethearts (the US version)
- List of confectionery brands
