Remember the candy hearts that you would leave on the desks of your classmates each Valentine’s Day that said things like “Be Mine” or “Luv U”? Believe it or not, people first started leaving those for their sweethearts even before the Civil War, although the sayings were a bit different.
“Something like, ‘If you marry in blue, bad luck will come to you. If you marry in white, all things will be right,” paraphrases Susan Benjamin, a candy historian who owns True Treats Historic Candy in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
This is just a taste of the sweet facts you’ll learn at Benjamin’s talk, “Sweet History,” at the Rising Sun Tavern in Fredericksburg, being held Feb. 10, at 3 and 4:30 p.m.. For the third year in a row, Benjamin—who wrote the book Sweet as Sin: The Unwrapped Story of How Candy Became America’s Favorite Pleasure—will discuss the candies that are related to Valentine’s Day and what their original purpose was throughout world history, including the suggestiveness of truffles and the aphrodisiac purposes of nutmeg and ginger. Post-talk, attendees will have the opportunity to sample some of the candy she discussed. // Rising Sun Tavern: 1304 Caroline St., Fredericksburg; $15
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