Suzanne's Mom's Blog

Photo: Artsquest.
Sugar and garish food coloring go into making the perennial favorite Easter Peeps at a multigenerational family company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The city embraces the business year-round, including at Peepsfest, a New Year’s extravaganza, above.

Many of us follow traditions we remember from childhood, even if some of those traditions don’t jibe with our grownup views of things. Would you insist on eating loads of sugar mixed with scary food dyes if they didn’t evoke a feeling you used to get when discovering certain bright candies behind a bush in the yard or a vase in the living room? Everybody loves a hunt.

You’ve probably guessed I’m talking about Easter Peeps — yellow, pick, blue, or green chicks and rabbits in their own special weird shape.

Tassanee Vejpongsa and John Seewer wrote for the Associated Press that millions of Peeps “are made daily in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. …

“Love them or hate them, those marshmallow Peeps that come in blindingly bright colors and an array of flavors are inescapable around the Easter holiday.

“Millions are made daily in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by Just Born Quality Confections, a family-owned candy manufacturer. …

“Peeps is Just Born’s most recognizable brand and one of a handful of candies that evoke strong reactions — good and bad. Some say an Easter basket isn’t complete without Peeps while others deride them as being indestructible. Some use them in recipes or even artwork.

“ ‘Even if you’re not usually one to gravitate to eating the Peeps, there’s always so many other fun ways to include them in your celebrations,’ said Caitlin Servian, brand manager for Peeps.

“On average, about 5.5 million are made each day. That adds up to 2 billion a year — or roughly 6 Peeps for every man, woman and child across the U.S.

“First hatched in yellow, the sugary chicks and bunnies come in nine colors … including pink, blue and lavender. And there are even more flavors — 14 for Easter — from cookies and cream, to fruit punch and sour watermelon. The varieties and colors vary throughout the year with different holiday seasons.

“Before the early 1950s, making the candies by hand took 27 hours.

“Bob Born, who became known as the ‘Father of Peeps,‘ came up with a way to speed up the process. He and a company engineer designed a machine to make them in less than six minutes. The same process is used today.

“The main ingredients — sugar, corn syrup and gelatin — are cooked and combined to create marshmallows, which are then shaped and sent through a ‘sugar shower.’

“A whopping 400 pounds (181 kilograms) of sugar is used per batch for Peeps’ colored sugars. Freshly made Peeps — each chick weighs one-third of an ounce — then move along a conveyor so that they can cool before being packaged.”

More at AP, here.

Check out Peepsfest, which happens December 31, here, and learn more about the Just Born company here.

Photo: Suzanne and John’s Mom.
Priscilla’s candy shop goes an extra step, making their own special chocolates using Peeps.