How Marshmallow Peeps Are Born

Where your favorite yellow and pink Easter treats come from.

Peep Prep

Have you ever wondered which came first, the marshmallow or the Peep? Well, we've got the answer. Follow along on our tour of the Just Born, Inc., candy plant in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and you'll know a lot more about those cute little chick and bunny peeps that show up in your Easter basket every year.

1. Mixing and Whipping
Mixing and whipping Peep mixture

A mixture of marshmallow, sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and a few other special ingredients are whipped into a marshmallowy goo that will become the shaped candy figures.

2. Coloring the Sugar

All sugar starts out white. Since yellow Peeps were being made the day we visited, yellow food coloring was added through that little arm outside the barrel. The barrel rotates like a cement mixer to color all the sugar.

3. Spreading the Sugar
Person spreading yellow peep sugar

Sugar is loaded into a spreader (the gray piece in the background) by hand. The spreader distributes the sugar all across the conveyor belt that the candy will ride during production.

Fun Fact

Just Born, Inc., produces 1.2 billion marshmallow goodies each year for all occasions -- that's a heap of Peeps. Chicks and bunnies are the most popular shapes and are made year-round at the plant.

Continued on page 2:  Peep Population

 

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Comments (4)
4219900116
bhall_13143 wrote:

Love to let them get a little bit stale, then eat them all chewy.

4/23/2011 01:52:04 PM Report Abuse
quahog39 wrote:

Don't let this article fool you. Marshmallow peeps were invented by the Raytheon Corportation to help fight the soviets during the cold war. Peeps were the ultimate cold war weapon and best of all no one ever suspected a thing

4/16/2011 10:31:03 AM Report Abuse
elizabethlaird wrote:

Yum..Just for Matt and Kaele

4/10/2011 08:55:46 PM Report Abuse
sabrewer wrote:

MMMMMMMMMMM, Peeps!

4/4/2011 11:54:38 AM Report Abuse
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