Peeps

Marshmallow PEEPS: Fluorescent Squishiness You Either Love or Hate

March 27, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

If you have a thing for the fluorescent marshmallow bunnies and chicks that were hatched over 50 years ago, you’re not alone. They got their name – PEEPS — because they were 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, 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.
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.

What’s In Them?

Send a PEEP to a lab for analysis and 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

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Where’s My PEEPS?

March 23, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Do you have a thing for those fluorescent marshmallow bunnies and chicks that were hatched over 50 years ago? They got their name – PEEPS — because they were originally modeled after the yellow chick. Now they’re made for Christmas, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day, too — so you can get them in yellow pink, blue, lavender, orange, and green shapes that represent the different holidays. They come chocolate dipped, too.

PEEPS continue to be 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.

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 so they get a little crunchy 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. But they don’t toast well on sticks like regular marshmallows because their outer sugar coating tends to burn.

Millions of Peeps

During the Easter season Americans buy more than 700 million PEEPS that are shaped like chicks, bunnies and eggs although the iconic yellow PEEP is still the most popular choice.

As many as 4.2 million PEEPS can be made daily. In 1953 it took 27 hours to create a PEEP. It takes six minutes today.

Newspapers have been known to run contests for best PEEP recipes and best PEEP pictures, and, in a world of contrasts I’ve spotted a blackboards outside of bars in NYC advertising PEEP contests and a kids’ stores using boxes and boxes of PEEPs for window decorations.

What’s In Them?

Send a PEEP for lab analysis and you’ll find sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, less than 0.5% of potassium sorbate, natural flavors, dye, and carnauba wax. They’re gluten and nut free but are not Kosher. (No wonder some claim that they’re indestructible!) You can even get sugar free PEEPS that are made with Splenda.

If PEEPS are part of your Easter ritual, even though they’re filled with sugar and all kinds of dyes and chemicals, for a seasonal treat, calorically you could do worse.

Five little chicks (42g, one serving size) will set you back 140 calories; 0g fat; 1g protein; and 36g carbs.

Easter Candy Tally

Eating 25 small jelly beans, 5 Peeps, a 1 3/4 ounce hollow chocolate bunny, and 1 Cadbury Creme Egg, which is not an unusual amount of Easter candy, tallies 730 calories.

You’d need to walk 7.3 miles, 11.77 kilometers, or 14600 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps to walk off that number of calories. Sounds like a lot, but very doable over a few days.

I’m Lookin’ For My PEEPS

March 30, 2012 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Lots of people have a thing for those fluorescent marshmallow bunnies and chicks that were hatched over 50 years ago. They got their name – PEEPS — because the original candy was the yellow chick. Now they’re produced for many holidays – in seasonal colors and different shapes.

They continue to be 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 boasts a fan club and a section for recipes.

PEEPS have been the number one non-chocolate Easter candy in the US for more than a decade. Although yellow is America’s favorite color for PEEPS chicks and bunnies, they also come in pink, lavender, blue, orange and green. This year there are rainbow PEEPS pops and chocolate dipped mousse flavored mashmallow chicks.

What’s In Them?

Send a PEEP for lab analysis and you’ll find sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, less than 0.5% of potassium sorbate, natural flavors, dye, and carnauba wax. They’re gluten and nut free. (No wonder some claim that they’re indestructible!) You can even get sugar free PEEPS that are made with Splenda.

Five little chicks (42g, one serving size): 140 calories; 0g fat; 1g protein; and 36g carbs.

PEEPS Preferences

People have definite PEEPS preferences. Some like them nice and soft, others leave them out in the air to age to perfection so they get a little crunchy 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. They don’t toast well on sticks like regular marshmallows because their outer sugar coating tends to burn.

Newspapers have been known to run contests for best PEEP recipes and best PEEP pictures, and, in a world of contrasts I’ve seen a blackboard outside of a bar in NYC advertising a PEEP contest and a JCrew (Crewcuts) kids’ store using boxes and boxes of PEEPs for window decoration.

I have a few members of my family who love their PEEPS and I freely admit that I am not one of them — although I do think they make great table decorations.

If PEEPS are part of your Easter ritual, even though they’re filled with sugar and all kinds of dyes and chemicals — if you’re counting calories and fat grams — for a seasonal treat, you could do worse.

What’s your PEEPS preference?

Where’s My Peeps?

April 19, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Peeps: the blazing yellow and hot pink marshmallow bunnies and chicks that were hatched over 50 years ago. They’re called PEEPS because the original candy was the yellow chick. Now they’re produced for many holidays – in seasonal colors and shapes, of course – and they continue to be 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.

What’s In Them?

They’re made of sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and less than 0.5% of potassium sorbate, natural flavors, dye, and carnauba wax, and they are gluten and nut free. (No wonder some claim that they’re indestructible!) You can even get sugar free PEEPS made with Splenda.

Five little chicks (42g, listed as one serving size) have 140 calories, 0g fat, 1g protein, and 36g carbs.

PEEPS Preferences

Some people like their peeps nice and soft. Others leave them out in the air to age to perfection so they get a little crunchy on the outside. They’ve been microwaved (careful, they expand and can make quite a mess), frozen, roasted, used to top hot chocolate, and added to recipes. They don’t toast well on sticks like regular marshmallows – the sugar coating tends to burn.

What’s In Your Easter Basket?

March 30, 2010 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Peeps, Jelly Beans, Chocolate Bunnies and Candy Easter Eggs

Easter candy nesting in baskets on beds of paper straw. Brightly wrapped candy stuffed in plastic eggs for Easter egg hunts. Chocolate smeared over little kids’ faces and indestructible peeps molded into weird shapes before being popped in the mouth.

It’s Easter candy time. Face it – admit it – Easter candy is seductive. I dare you to eat one jelly bean or unwrap and savor just one brightly colored mini-chocolate Easter egg.

If you are going to indulge — and sometimes a celebratory treat is worth it — you might as well know a little about your Easter candy sweet treats so you can factor their caloric punch into your eating plan.

Jelly Beans

Oh, those little nuggests of sweetness that come in multitudes of colors and flavors. Primarily made of sugar, jelly beans also usually contain gelatin, 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).

The gummy inside of the jelly bean may have originated centuries ago from the treat, Turkish Delight. The outside of the jelly bean is basically the same as the colored hard candy coating, developed in the late 17^th century, for the Jordan almond. The modern jelly bean appeared during the American Civil War when Boston’s William Schraft encouraged sending candy to Union soldiers. Around 1930, jelly beans, with a shape resembling Easter eggs, became popular as an Easter candy.

Although standard jelly beans come in fruit flavors, there are also spiced, mint, gourmet, tropical, and novelty flavors (popcorn, bubble gum, pepper, cola, etc,) available. They also now come in a sugar free version (seems weird, but true – wonder how many chemicals are in those).

Jelly beans may give you Technicolor insides, but they are fat free. On average, 10 small jelly beans (11g) have 41 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 10.3 grams of carbs. Ten large jelly beans (1 oz or 28g) have 105 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 26.2g carbs.

Marshmallow PEEPS

These vividly colored marshmallow bunnies and chicks were hatched over 50 years ago. They are called PEEPS because the original candy was the yellow chick. Now produced for many holidays – in seasonal colors and shapes, of course — they continue to be the subject of numerous 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, on their website, to produce enough PEEPS in one year to circle the Earth twice.

For more than a decade, PEEPS have been the number one non-chocolate Easter candy in the U.S. Although yellow is America’s favorite color for PEEPS chicks and bunnies, they also come in pink, lavender, blue, orange and green. Made of sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and less than 0.5% of potassium sorbate, natural flavors, dye, and carnauba wax, they are gluten and nut free. You can even get sugar free PEEPS made with Splenda. Five little chicks (42g, listed as one serving size) has 140 calories, 0g fat, 1g protein, and 36g carbs.

People have definite PEEPS preferences. Some like them nice and soft, others leave them out in the air to age to perfection so they get a little crunchy on the outside. They’ve been microwaved (careful, they expand and can make quite a mess), frozen, roasted, used to top hot chocolate, and added to recipes. They don’t toast well on sticks like regular marshmallows – the sugar coating tends to burn. Newspapers have been known to run contests for best PEEP recipes and best PEEP pictures.

SocialDieter Tip:

Many of us have emotional and traditional ties to certain foods – especially ones connected to holidays. If Easter candy means a lot to you, have some, in moderation. Just add it into your caloric consumption for the day – or balanced out over the course of several days. The trouble lies with eating handfuls of jelly beans, whole Easter bunnies, crates of chocolate eggs, and barnyards of marshmallow peeps – and then continuing to eat them until the supply runs out. Make up your mind that you’ll eat a certain amount, commit to only that amount, enjoy it, savor it, and then stop. Give the extras away, get them out of sight and out of mind. Dispatch them to where they are not calling your name and they are not within easy reach (the kitchen cabinet is too easily accessible).

My next post will give you the low down on chocolate Easter eggs.