Eat Out Eat Well

Food for Fun and Thought

PEEPS: Do You Love Them or Hate Them?

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Marshmallow PEEPs

If you have a thing for the fluorescent squishy marshmallow bunnies and chicks that were hatched over 60 years ago, you’re not alone. PEEPS, the number one non-chocolate candy for Easter, got its name – PEEPS – because it was originally modeled after the yellow chick.

Every year, PEEPS are the subject of lots of design contests (you’d be amazed what you can make out of peeps) and scientific experiments (some claim them to be indestructible). Just Born, the parent company of PEEPS, claims to produce enough PEEPS in one year to circle the Earth twice. Their website even boasts a fan club and a section for recipes.

Millions of Peeps

  • Each Easter season, Americans buy more than 700 million Marshmallow Peeps shaped like chicks, bunnies, and eggs, making them the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy.
  • As many as 4.2 million Marshmallow Peeps shaped like chicks, bunnies and other shapes can be made each day.
  • In 1953, it took 27 hours to create a Marshmallow Peep. Today it takes six minutes.
  • Yellow Peeps are the most popular, followed by pink, lavender, blue, and white.
  • Chocolate covered and Chocolate dipped EEPS Chicks were introduced in 2010.
  • Peeps seem to be almost indestructible and are famous for their two-year shelf life. Scientists at Emory University claimed that Peeps eyes “wouldn’t dissolve in anything.”  They tried to dissolve Peeps with water, sulfuric acid, and sodium hydroxide.  No luck.

Do You Like Your PEEPS Soft Or Crunchy?

People have definite Peeps preferences. Some like them nice and soft, others like to leave them out in the air to age to perfection and acquire a little crunch on the outside.

They’ve been microwaved (careful, they expand and can really make a mess in your microwave), frozen, roasted, used to top hot chocolate, and added to recipes. Because their outer sugar coating tends to burn, they don’t toast well on sticks like regular marshmallows.

In case you would like some PEEPS recipes, check these out!

What’s In Them?

  • Inside a PEEP you’ll find sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, less than 0.5% of the following ingredients: yellow #5 (tartrazine), potassium sorbate (a preservative), natural flavors, dye, and carnauba wax
  • They’re gluten and nut free but are not Kosher
  • You can get sugar free PEEPS that are made with Splenda
  • Five little chicks (42g, one serving size) will set you back 140 calories, 0g fat, 1g protein, and 36g carbs

JellyBeans!!!

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Jellybeans: do you think they should they should come with a warning label, “STOP NOW or you’ll keep eating until they’re gone?”

Seriously – it’s pretty darn hard not to love those little nuggets of sweetness that come in multitudes of colors and flavors and get stuck in your teeth!

The Birth Of The Jellybean

The gummy insides of the jellybean might be related to the centuries old treat, Turkish Delight. And their outsides bring to mind the colored hard candy coating, developed in the late 17th century, for the Jordan almond.

The modern jellybean became popular during the American Civil War when Boston’s William Schraft encouraged sending candy to Union soldiers and the jellybean held up well.

Jellybeans were the first bulk candy. They were first sold by weight as penny candy in the early 1900s – bulk jellybeans for nine cents a pound.

Around 1930 they became popular as Easter candy because of their egg shape, which represents spring, fertility, and resurrection.

The Many Flavors And Colors Of Jellybeans

Standard jellybeans come in fruit flavors but there are a huge number of flavors available — some goofy, some sophisticated — like spiced, mint, gourmet, tropical, popcorn, bubble gum, pepper, and cola.  They also come in a sugar free version (seems weird, but true).

Whatever your flavor preference, Americans eat a whole lot of jellybeans – around 16 billion at Easter — enough to circle the globe nearly three times if all the Easter jellybeans were lined up end to end.

Handfuls Or One By One, And What Flavor?

How do you eat your jellybeans? Do you go for handfuls at a time or pick and choose your colors and eat them one by one?

  • 70% of kids ages 6–11 prefer to eat Easter jellybeans one at a time
  • 23% say they eat several at once
  • Boys (29%) are more likely to eat a handful than girls (18%)
  • Kids say their favorite Easter jellybean flavors are cherry (20%), strawberry (12%), grape (10%), lime (7%), and blueberry (6%).

What’s In The Hard Shelled Nugget Of Sweetness?

Jellybeans are primarily made of sugar and also usually contain gelatin (Jelly Bellies don’t), corn syrup, modified food starch, and less than 0.5% of citric acid, sodium citrate, artificial flavors, confectioners glaze, pectin, carnauba wax, white mineral oil, magnesium hydroxide, and artificial colors (takes some of the fun out of them, doesn’t it?).

Originally, there was just the traditional jellybean, which has flavor only in the shell. In 1976, the Jelly Belly (Goelitz) Candy Company introduced gourmet jellybeans. Unlike traditional jellybeans, Jelly Bellies are smaller and softer than the traditional kind and are flavored both inside and outside. Jelly Belly makes about 50 different flavors of gourmet jellybeans.

How Many Calories Are In Jellybeans?

Even though they may give you Technicolor insides, jellybeans are fat free.  On average:

  • 10 small jellybeans (11g) have 41 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 10.3 grams of carbs
  • 10 large jellybeans (1oz or 28g) have 105 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 26.2g carbs
  • 10 Jelly Bellies have 40 calories (4 calories a piece), or about 100 calories in a single serving (25 beans)

 Some Jelly Belly Jellybean Trivia

  • Jelly Bellies were invented in 1976. They were the first jellybeans to be sold in single flavors and to come with a menu of flavor choices.
  • It takes 7 to 21 days to make a single Jelly Belly jellybean.
  • Very Cherry was the most popular Jelly Belly flavor for two decades until 1998, when Buttered Popcorn took over. Very Cherry moved back into the top spot by only 8 million beans in 2003.
  • Some jellybeans do contain gelatin, but Jelly Bellies don’t. According to the Jelly Belly website, they are suitable for vegetarians although strict vegans may have issues with the beeswax and shellac that are used to give them their final buff and polish.
  • Jelly Belly doesn’t use wheat, rye, barley, or oats in the basic recipe for Jelly Belly jellybeans but does use cornstarch as the modified food starch.
  • Jelly Bellies have been certified kosher for the last two decades by the Kashrut supervision of KO Kosher Service.  Since 2007 all Jelly Belly products have been certified by the Orthodox Union. Teenee Beanee jelly beans and Just Born jellybeans are Pareve & O/U; Jelly Bellies are certified OU Kosher.

Movie Night? Try Some (Flavored) Popcorn

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Movies and Popcorn – A Classic Combo

When you think movie, do you also think popcorn? A good percentage of movie viewing people do.

And what’s the biggest movie night of the year?  The Academy Awards, of course.

Oscar has been around for a long time – the first Academy Awards ceremony was in 1929 – but the main snack food that’s associated with movies has been around a lot longer.

The Evolution of Popcorn

The puffy goodness we know as popcorn is a strain of corn (from maize) cultivated in Central America about 8,000 years ago.  North American whalers probably brought popcorn to New England from Chile in the early 19th century. Popping popcorn was fun and its appeal spread across the country.

By the mid 1800’s popcorn was widely available, especially at places like circuses and fairs. The invention of the steam-powered popcorn maker in 1885 meant popcorn could be made anywhere.  Amazingly, the only place where it wasn’t available was in theaters, which typically had carpeted floors. Theater owners didn’t want popcorn “dirtying” up the place.

Popcorn and Movies

Because of its popularity, theater owners began to allow popcorn vendors to sell popcorn outside their theaters.  During the Great Depression people looked for cheap diversions and movies were it.   Popcorn — at 5 to 10 cents a bag — was an affordable luxury.

Theater owners began to lease their lobbies to popcorn vendors, but figured out they could make more money by selling it themselves. Selling popcorn, candy, and soda from their own concession stands meant higher profits. Sugar shortages during World War II made sweet treats hard to come by, and popcorn became the main snack.  By 1945 over half of the popcorn eaten in the US was consumed in movie theaters.

It’s still king.  Americans eat, on average, about 13 gallons of popcorn a year. It’s cheap to make and allows for a huge price mark-up. You might pay $5 for a bag of popcorn, but it costs the theater about 50 cents. Plain popcorn doesn’t have all that much flavor, so yellow oil (it isn’t butter) and salt are added to make it tasty and make you thirsty.  So, you buy a soda. No wonder movie theaters make an estimated 85 percent profit from concession sales.

Popcorn Recipes

This Sunday as you prop your feet up to watch the glamorous stars grab their golden statues, make sure you have a good supply of popcorn on hand.  You don’t have to settle for the plain variety – unless you want to.  There are some fantastic popcorn recipes with names like Bacon Bourbon Caramel, Cinnamon Candy (red, like the red carpet), Peanut Butter Popcorn, and Endless Caramel Corn.

For even more popcorn recipes to accompany your cheers, boos, oohs, and ahs on Oscar night, check out:

19 Creative Ways to Flavor Popcorn

11 Popcorn Recipes to Take Your Movie Night to the Next Level

50 Flavored Popcorn Recipes

 

 

What’s Valentine’s Day Without Candy Sweethearts?

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“Be Mine,” “Kiss me,”  “Sweet Talk.” Candy hearts, originally called motto hearts but also known as conversation hearts and sweethearts, have been iconic Valentine’s Day treats since 1902. Which school kid doesn’t remember the brightly colored heart shaped candies with the stamped red sayings and slightly chalky taste?

Their manufacturer, NECCO, the New England Confectionery Company in business since 1847, sells more than 8 billion candy conversation hearts a year. (Unfortunately, NECCO, once the longest continuously operating candy company in the country, was sold in a bankruptcy auction in May 2018.)

How Did Candy Conversation Hearts Get To Be A Symbol Of Valentine’s Day?

Giving a gift of candy with a message inscribed on it can be traced back to the American colonists who gave homemade hard candy with messages etched into the surface to their sweethearts.

Years later, Oliver Chase, the founder NECCO, and his brother Daniel, who developed the process of printing red vegetable dye mottos on the candy, turned this tradition into a business.

The candy’s original shape wasn’t a heart, but a seashell shape called a “cockle.” A message was written on a colored slip of paper that was wedged into the cockle’s shell. NECCO started producing candy with mottos stamped on them in 1900, but the candy was in shapes like horseshoes and baseballs that allowed for longer printed sayings like “How long shall I have to wait?” and “Pray be considerate.” The candy called Sweethearts didn’t get its heart shape until 1902.

Sweethearts And Motto Hearts

The original candies with printed sayings were called “motto hearts.”  The sayings and flavors were updated over the years with new ones periodically added. Newer flavors have been strawberry, green apple, lemon, grape, orange, and blue raspberry and “newer” sayings included “Tweet Me,” “Text Me,” “You Rock,” “Soul Mate,” “Love Bug,” and “Me + You.”

NECCO continued to use their original recipe, process, and machines they used at the turn of the century. Putting out approximately 100,000 pounds of candy a day, it took about 11 months to produce the more than eight billion pieces — or about 13 million pounds – of colorful candy sweethearts sold in the six weeks before Valentine’s Day. The little hearts with messages accounted for 40% of the Valentine candy market, just behind – you guessed it – chocolate!

Although you’d be hard pressed to call them nutritious, they are fat free, sodium free, and a caloric bargain at about 3 calories apiece for the small hearts and about 6 calories apiece for the larger “Motto” hearts.

They Will Not Disappear

Unfortunately, NECCO did not produce their candy hearts this year (although you still may find some lingering on shelves). But don’t fear the total disappearance of candy hearts. According to Fortune, Spangler Candy Co., which took over the rights to NECCO’s brands, says the iconic candies will return in 2020. And, don’t go into candy heart withdrawal – Brach’s sells their own similar version of candy sweethearts.

How Much Caffeine Is In That Piece Of Chocolate?

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Chocolate and Caffeine

During the week before Valentine’s Day, about 1.1 billion boxed chocolates — that’s about 58 million pounds of chocolate candy — will be sold in the United States.

A pound of milk chocolate packs 2300 calories, 140 grams of fat, 270 grams of carbohydrates, and 31 grams of protein. Although a lot has been reported about the heart healthy benefits of chocolate, especially dark chocolate, it’s important to remember that it is still a high calorie, high fat treat. And, it has caffeine.

Isn’t Chocolate Good For Me?

Depending on the type and the amount, the answer is yes. Chocolate’s health benefits come from cocoa and dark chocolate has a higher concentration of it than milk chocolate. White chocolate, without any cocoa in it, is not really chocolate.

Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, contains flavonols which have antioxidant qualities and other positive influences on heart health. But typical Valentine’s chocolates are caloric and moderately high in fat, one-third of it the type of saturated fat that is not heart healthy. Extra ingredients like crème and caramel fillings can add lots of extra fat and calories.

And Then There’s The Caffeine

You’ve finished dinner – perhaps you’re stuffed to the gills – and some chocolate arrives along with the check. It could be those squares nicely wrapped in shiny foil or it could be some chunks of the really dark stuff artfully arranged on a plate.

Somehow there magically seems to be some room for the chocolate to fit in your already full belly. And, just maybe, this chocolate follows a chocolate dessert that tasted so fantastic that you wanted to lick the bowl. All of that was washed down by a wonderful cup of coffee.

Is it coffee or chocolate that’s keeping you awake?

Then you get home and sleep is just downright elusive. You wonder why you’re wide awake since you’ve been on the go all day.

Here’s a thought – it might be the caffeine found in the coffee, tea, and even some soda you’ve drunk and from the chocolate you nibbled (or devoured). There isn’t a huge amount of caffeine in chocolate, but perhaps enough – especially if you’re a chocoholic – to help tip the insomnia scales when it’s combined with a day’s worth of other caffeinated food and drinks.

Caffeine And Chocolate

Here are a few facts about chocolate and caffeine that most people don’t know:

Chocolate contains caffeine – not enough to give you a big time boost, but — depending on the type of chocolate, enough to register — especially if you’re working your way through some of those oversized bars or you’re a little kid stuffing in a bunch of fun-sized bars.

It would take about 14 regularly sized (1.5 oz) bars of milk chocolate, and fewer bars if they were dark chocolate (see stats below), to give you the same amount of caffeine that you’d get from an 8 ounce cup of coffee. Along with that little caffeine buzz you’d also be shoving in about 3,000 calories and more than 300 grams of sugar.  If you’re looking for caffeine, coffee seems like a better bet at about two calories for an 8 ounce cup (black, no sugar).

Something To Think About

The next time you find yourself reaching for those foil wrapped chocolate squares after dinner you might consider the caffeine if you want a restful sleep.

It’s also worth it to remember that getting kids (and some adults) to sleep on Halloween, Easter, and other chocolate heavy holidays might have a whole lot to do with both the sugar and the amount of caffeine in the chocolate candy.

Caffeine In Chocolate

  • Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar, 1bar/1.55 ounces:  9 mg caffeine
  • Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar, 1 bar/1.45 ounces:  20 mg caffeine
  • Hershey’s Kisses, 9 pieces:  9 mg caffeine
  • Hershey’s Special Dark Kisses, 9 pieces:  20 mg caffeine
  • Scharffen Berger Milk 41% Cacao, ½ bar:  17 mg caffeine
  • Scharffen Berger Extra Dark 82% Cacao, ½ bar:  42 mg caffeine
  • Dagoba Milk Chocolate 37% Cacao, ½ bar:  9 mg caffeine
  • Dagoba Dark Chocolate 73% Cacao, ½ bar:  36 mg caffeine

Caffeine In Coffee

  • Coffee, generic brewed, 8 ounces: 133 mg caffeine (range: 102-200; 16 ounces, 266 mg caffeine)
  • Dunkin’ Donuts regular coffee, 16 ounces:  206 mg caffeine
  • Starbucks Brewed Coffee (Grande), 16 ounces:  320 mg caffeine
  • Coffee, generic instant, 8 ounces:  93 mg caffeine (range 27-173)
  • Espresso, generic, 1 ounces:  40 mg caffeine (range 30-90)
  • Starbucks Espresso, solo, 1 ounces:  75 mg caffeine
  • Coffee, generic decaffeinated, 8 ounces:  5 mg caffeine (range 3-12)

If you are a traditionalist and just want a big old chocolate kiss on Valentine’s Day, here’s one already to go — just don’t eat it all at once or you’ll have a nice caffeine buzz!

Or maybe just a bag of pink chocolate kisses will do.

Or some gold milk chocolate kisses filled with caramel — yum!

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