Do U Heart Conversation Hearts?

Couldn't let Valentine's Day go by without a shout-out. As we used to say in high school, Happy VD, everybody! And what more Valentinesy thing can we learn about on this day than those little pastel-colored hearts with messages stamped into them in red? As always, we turn to Mental Floss for that kind of invaluable information. And we read, for example, that there's a good reason those things taste suspiciously like NECCO (which stands for New England Confectionery Company, btw) wafers, and that's because they are NECCO wafers, just in a different shape. For both, we have two brothers from Boston to thank. (We have another Bostonian, Esther Howland, to thank for popularizing Valentine's cards.) Today, NECCO estimates, it pumps out almost 100,000 pounds of hearts every year: http://mentalfloss.com/article/61510/history-conversation-heart