{"id":20842,"date":"2016-03-25T08:19:59","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T15:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=20842"},"modified":"2016-03-25T08:19:59","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T15:19:59","slug":"friday-fun-happy-peepster-its-yuuuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/25\/friday-fun-happy-peepster-its-yuuuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Fun \u2013 Happy Peepster! (It’s YUUUGE!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

[NOTE<\/u>: Sorry – it's a particularly long one]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This year marks the Washington Post’s<\/em> Tenth Anniversary of its “Peeps Diorama Contest”<\/em><\/strong> – which always occurs the week before Easter.  So let’s take a delightful trip down memory lane, while learning some new Friday Fun Facts<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Peep_2016_Hapeep-10th\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I started doing my background research for “Friday Fun”<\/em> I decided that learning about Peeps was actually more interesting.  We’ll get to the contest, but the first question that needed answering was which came first – the Marshmallow<\/em><\/strong> or the Peeps<\/em><\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Or how do we get from here …<\/p>\n

 \"Peeps_Born_02\" – to – \"Peeps_Born_13\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Going back to the very beginning, it all started in 1953 when Sam Born<\/strong> bought the Rodda Candy Company<\/em><\/strong> in Lancaster, PA. <\/p>\n

Mr. Born was born and raised in Russia, but moved to America in 1910.  He settled in New York City where he made handcrafted chocolate confections and founded his candy company, Just Born<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Born was an inventive soul who was actually awarded by San Francisco the “Key to the City”<\/em> for his invention of the process to insert sticks into lollipops.<\/p>\n

He bought the Rodda Candy Company primarily for their jelly beans – but serendipitously learned that they made a marshmallowy treat once a year they called a Peep<\/em><\/strong>.  It was made only at Easter time because it took them TWENTY-SEVEN HOURS<\/span>,<\/em><\/strong> from start-to-finish, to handcraft just ONE Peep using a pastry tube.<\/p>\n

Apparently his son, Bob, inherited Sam’s inventive gene because Bob Born<\/strong> created “The Depositor”<\/em><\/strong> which formed the Peeps and so was able to cut the TWENTY-SEVEN HOURS<\/em> down to just SIX MINUTES!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

So let’s take a Step-by-Step tour of how those little Peeps are “Born”.<\/p>\n

Step One: Mixing and Whipping<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It begins when the ingredients – sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, vanilla (or other flavorings), coloring and potassium sorbate (a preservative) – are whipped into a marshmallowy goo.  There’s also a soupçon<\/em> of carnauba wax – but more on that in a bit.<\/p>\n

\"Peeps_Getty_03\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Step Two: Coloring the Sugar Coating<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In a giant culinary “cement mixer”, food coloring is sprayed by that little arm outside the barrel on to the sugar inside, and thoroughly mixed to a uniform color.<\/p>\n

\"Peeps_Born_03\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Step Three: Sugar Loaded on to Conveyor Belt<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sugar is loaded into a spreader (the gray piece in the background) by hand, and the spreader distributes the colored sugar across the conveyor belt.<\/p>\n

\"Peeps_Born_04\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Step Four: Peeps Are Made by “The Depositor”<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

No photos are allowed of the machinery that actually pumps the marshmallow into the various shapes. That's Bob’s Top Secret – but it has not changed much since the 1950’s.  (Although there was a recent redesign in the past year or so that will expand their creative abilities.)<\/p>\n

\"Peeps_Born_01\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Step Five: Peeps Coated with Sugar in a Wind Tunnel<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Freshly made Peeps, while warm, travel along the sugar-covered conveyor belt (backwards!) into a wind tunnel.  Here air is blown in to whip the sugar around so that it sticks evenly to every … AND<\/em><\/p>\n

Step Six: Recycling the Sugar<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The sugar-coated candy Peeps slide off a solid conveyor belt on to a grated one that lets extra sugar fall through so it can be recycled.<\/p>\n

\"Peeps_Born_07\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Step Seven: The “Eyes are Dotted”<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This machine dots the Peeps with those tiny creepy peepers, which are actually tiny dots of carnauba<\/strong><\/em> <\/strong><\/em>wax<\/em><\/strong>.  <\/p>\n

Carnauba wax <\/strong><\/em>is a non-toxic edible wax that’s also found in some shoe polishes, car waxes and many other candies.  And that “Eye Dotter”<\/em> machine can pump out 3,800 eyes per minute.<\/p>\n

\"Peeps_Born_09\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Step Eight: Peeps Get Packaged<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The last part of their conveyor-belt ride takes the Peeps through a refrigerated area so they can firm up enough to easily fall off the conveyor belt and into boxes. Peep Chicks come five to a box, while bunnies are four per box.<\/p>\n

\"Peeps_Facts_Packaged\"<\/a><\/p>\n

FUN FACTS ABOUT PEEPS<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n