redhot!

Valentine's day's signature candy... some would claim it's chocolate. Since I consider dark chocolate to be a major food group, a single-holiday association is terribly restrictive. Others are all about the "conversation hearts," but I've always found them to be chatty, chalky, cloying. Their colors seem faded, their sentiments too common.

To me, Valentine's Day will always be about the redhots. There's something simultaneously so vixenish and second-grader cute in those shiny candy shells. Known in the confections field under the far-too-formal generic title "cinnamon imperials," a handful of these little guys act like fireworks in the mouth, leaving you with cinnamon-fresh breath, a bright red tongue and a quick sugar high. And isn't that a bit more representative of the kind of love Valentines Day usually promotes?

This day, I take time to pay homage to valentines, romantic love and a million tiny droplets of sweet cinnamon with the REDHOTS Virtual Tour.

thanks to T.S. for the "cinnamon imperials" image.