Easter Guide

"Mommy, where do Peeps come from?" My darling son has asked me this question exactly never. But have you ever wondered how these spongy, pastel, gritty chicks come into our lives every Easter? Where do they come from? Are they ... born that way?

Friends, I'm here to tell you there is no big, neon yellow, sparkly chicken out birthing little Peeps for you every spring. I know, you're shocked, right? Peeps are made in a factory. NO! Say it's not so! Yes, 'tis true. Keep reading if you dare to find out all the gooey marshmallow details.

This week The New York Times took us on a photographic tour inside a Peeps factory to show us how the squishy birds are made! Here's what I learned.

1. It only takes six minutes to make a Peep.
2. Their eyes are made of edible wax -- not chocolate, as I'd always imagined.
3. Two billion Peeps are made a year, 800 million around Easter.
4. After a machine squirts out the white marshmallow chicks (in neat little rows), they get a colored sugar shower. Wheee!
5. No two Peeps are alike. "No one Peeps chick is the same as another. Each has its own personality," says Matthew Pye, marketing director of the company that makes Peeps. That's vaguely disturbing.
6. "Irregular" Peeps get squashed up together and then melted into new Peeps. EVEN MORE DISTURBING. Did you see the Peeps rejects photo? Ima have yellow Peeps nightmares tonight, y'all. I'm sure of it.

So now you know. Phew, that wasn't too bad, was it? Now that I've looked behind the Peep curtain, I sort of feel like I understand them better -- the fleeting joy of the sugar shower, the threat of getting mushed and melted. Who knew those marshmallow chicks went through so much just to grow stale in our kids' Easter baskets year after year? Sigh. Welp, back to making Peeps sushi.

Now that you know how they're made, do you think it will change how they taste to you?

Image via TBoard/Flickr