It’s Valentine’s Day, and everyone knows what the most important part of Valentine’s Day is—candy. There are certain candies associated with Valentine’s Day, some of which are good and some of which are… not. So this year, I decided to truly figure out what the best of these iconic candies are. 

In order to tackle such a serious question, I knew I needed to take a mathematical and statistical approach. So I carefully created a survey using google forms and received input from more than 40 Winchester students. On the form, I asked them to rate each of ten candies on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being terrible and 10 being your all-time favorite). From there, I found the average rating of each candy and ranked them accordingly. Below are those results from worst to best:

10. Laffy Taffy

Out of the ten candies tested, Laffy Taffy got the lowest average rating with an abysmal 4.90 out of 10. While the result is sad, I don’t think it’s surprising as Laffy Taffy sorta… sucks (sorry Laffy Taffy fans!). Even with its advertised “Jokes on every wrapper” (on the picture above), it’s still not enough to bring Laffy Taffy up from the bottom of this list. (The jokes must just not be that good.) 

9. Candy (Conversation) Hearts

This is maybe the most iconic Valentine’s day candy, so I was surprised to see it ranked so low (with a rating of 5.15 out of 10). But then I remembered that I don’t even like these. The messages are cheesy (and honestly a little weird coming from people you don’t know… or even people you do know) and they really don’t taste that good. 

8. Heart-Shaped Lollipops

As a heart-shaped lollipop fan, the 5.88 out of 10 average was a bit of a shock. Even though they only have one not-that-good flavor, the shape is just so fun! It’s Valentine’s Day; how can you not want a heart-shaped lollipop?

7. Nerds