BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Love them or hate them, these marshmallow Peeps that are available in blindingly bright colors and an array of flavors are inescapable across the Easter vacation.
Tens of millions are made every day in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by Simply Born High quality Confections, a family-owned sweet producer that additionally churns out Sizzling Tamales, Mike and Ike fruit chews and Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews.
Peeps is Simply Born’s most recognizable model and one among a handful of candies that evoke strong reactions — good and unhealthy. Some say an Easter basket is not full with out Peeps whereas others deride them as being indestructible. Some use them in recipes and even art work.
“Even if you happen to’re not often one to gravitate to consuming the Peeps, there’s at all times so many different enjoyable methods to incorporate them in your celebrations,” stated Caitlin Servian, model supervisor for Peeps.
What number of Peeps are made every year?
On common, about 5.5 million are made every day.
That provides as much as 2 billion a 12 months — or roughly 6 Peeps for each man, girl and youngster throughout the U.S.
What number of totally different varieties and colours are there?
First hatched in yellow, the sugary chicks and bunnies are available in 9 colours for this Easter season, together with pink, blue and lavender. And there are much more flavors — 14 for Easter — from cookies and cream, to fruit punch and bitter watermelon. The varieties and colours differ all year long with totally different vacation seasons.
How lengthy does it take to make a Peep?
Earlier than the early Fifties, making the candies by hand took 27 hours.
Bob Born, who turned often called the “Father of Peeps,” got here up with a strategy to pace up the method. He and an organization engineer designed a machine to make them in lower than six minutes. The identical course of is used as we speak.
How are they made?
The primary substances — sugar, corn syrup and gelatin — are cooked and mixed to create marshmallows, that are then formed and despatched via a “sugar bathe.”
A whopping 400 kilos (181 kilograms) of sugar is used per batch for Peeps’ coloured sugars.
Freshly made Peeps — every chick weighs one-third of an oz — then transfer alongside a conveyor in order that they will cool earlier than being packaged.
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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.
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