Love Hearts

Love Hearts are a type of confectionery manufactured by Swizzels Matlow in the United Kingdom. They are hard, tablet-shaped sweets featuring a short, love-related message on one side of the sweet. They are an updated version of Victorian Era Conversation Lozenges. 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 a larger premises at Drivers Avenue, Plaistow, London. During the Blitz in 1940, production relocated to a disused textile mill in New Mills, Derbyshire, where it is still located. Production The production of the sweet is based on the pressed tablet method, similar to many pharmaceutical products. Granulated sugar is ground to a very fine powder and separated into lines for each flavour of Love Heart. Colours, flavourings, and other ingredients are added and mixed, then fed into a machine where it is compressed under high pressure. At this stage, the message is imprinted onto the front of the love heart. The front is then highlighted in a red food dye so the message is more legible on the sweet. After the highlighting, the different colours and flavours are randomly mixed and packaged to create a variety for the consumer. Description