What would Valentine’s Day be if we didn’t swap sweets with our sweethearts?

How candy, specifically chocolates, became a romantic Valentine’s Day gift has a history all its own – and a relatively recent history at that, which you can read more about HERE. 

Sweethearts & Turtle Doves 

A tradition dating much farther back, known as the Feast of Saint Valentine, forms the foundation of our modern Valentine’s Day. 

Valentine was a physician and Christian priest who lived in Rome during the 3rd century. He was persecuted and martyred for his religious beliefs. In the year 496, Pope Gelasius I canonized Valentine as a saint and marked a calendar date in his honor. 

Little else is known about Valentine’s life. Even religious scholars and historians are unsure if one or multiple “Valentines” were the source of stories passed down through generations about this nearly mythical figure whose very name lends us so many romantic notions today. 

According to one legend, Valentine defied the Roman emperor and secretly married couples to prevent husbands from being sent to war. Maybe this was the kernel of inspiration that grew into Valentine becoming the patron saint of lovers.  

Still, no one associates “love” or “romance” (as we know those concepts today, at least) with Valentine’s Day until more than a millennium later in the 14th century when the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer writes, “For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird comes there to choose his mate.”  

It’s around this same time during the Late Middle Ages – an era that saw courtly love come into high fashion – that the first use of “sweet” as a term of endearment enters the English language. The word “heart,” a symbol of emotion, would soon join that pet name, and the rest, as they say, is history. 

For instance, one story in The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer’s masterpiece that is described as one of the first major written works of English literature, tells of a love-starved suitor who pursues the object of his affection.  

The lover woos his subject with the words, “Truly, sweetheart, I have such love-longing / That like a turtle-dove’s my true yearning; / And I can eat no more than can a maid.”  

Could it be that the exchange of sweets between lovers began as a way to ensure that neither would be so overwhelmed by desire for their romantic partner that they’d neglect to eat? Surely, at some point in all our lives, a fluttering heart has masked hunger pangs. 

As adults, however, we know that those flittering sensations of love’s first stages aren’t sustainable. We need substance in love and in life. Substance is found in getting to know someone deeply and developing a partnership built on trust. This is what nourishes our bodies, our relationships, and our souls. As rapturous as love’s first moments are, it endures on the slow-burning, long-lasting fuel of commitment. 

Image from Wikimedia Commons, oil on canvas painting ca. 1677 by David Teniers III

Mast Store’s “Be a Sweetheart” Enters 23rd Year in 2026 

Speaking of long-lasting commitments, Mast General Store’s Be a Sweetheart campaign is well into its second decade. For the past 23 years, each Mast Store has donated $1 for every pound of bulk candy purchased to a partnering local food security organization. 

This year, Be a Sweetheart will take place during Valentine’s Day weekend, February 14 – 15. Leading up to and throughout the weekend, Feb. 9 – 15, guests will also have the opportunity to RoundUP any in-store purchase to the next dollar to benefit their store’s local food security partner.  

While donations of $1 and less may not sound “substantial,” each of Mast’s food security partners use their networks of resources and volunteers to stretch every dollar into multiple meals for their clients. Pocket change adds up, too! Over the past five years alone, Mast Store has contributed more than $53,000 to food security partners thanks to its guests’ spare change combined with the $1/pound candy match. 

The following is a list of our partnering food security agencies and the Mast Store locations that are supporting them for 2026’s Be a Sweetheart campaign: Hunger and Health Coalition (Boone and Valle Crucis stores); MANNA FoodBank (Waynesville, Hendersonville, and Asheville stores); Loaves & Fishes (Greenville); Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee (Knoxville); Harvest Hope (Columbia); Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina (Winston-Salem); and Feeding Southwest Virginia (Roanoke). 

“With candy being one of the most gifted items on Valentine’s Day, we saw an opportunity to raise awareness of the need to support our food security partners and tie it to gifts to loved ones,” said Lisa Cooper, president of Mast General Store.??? 

According to the Food Research and Action Center, almost 48 million Americans experienced food insecurity in 2024, including?14.1 million children. Families living in the Southern region of the country have a higher rate of food insecurity than other regions, with 15% of households experiencing hunger in 2023.?? 

As important as putting meals on family’s dinner tables is, Mast’s food security partners also help their clients learn how to be smart shoppers and put together healthy menus on a budget. Some even offer clients a hand-up with opportunities to find work in the food service industry.  

All in all, financial support enables these agencies to achieve their goals of feeding our neighbors and making our communities safer, healthier, and happier places.  

Whether you RoundUP your Mast Store purchase or choose favorite candies for your special someone, friends, or family members, nothing is sweeter than contributing to your community’s wholeness and wellbeing. In a time when being a good neighbor is more important than ever, the Mast Store hopes that Be a Sweetheart fills your tables, hearts, and hometowns with love and kindness for each other on this Feast of Saint Valentine!