40 Fun Facts About Peeps

Which feature did Just Born remove from the Peeps chick to give the candy a sleek, modern look?

Its wings were "clipped", in Just Born's own word, and the wingless outline has been the brand's signature ever since.

Just Born says about a quarter of its customers prefer to eat Peeps in which condition?

Stale Peeps, left open until the marshmallow dries out and turns slightly crunchy, are the choice of 25 to 30 percent of buyers by the company's count.

Peepsfest in Pennsylvania peaks with the drop of a 400-pound Peeps chick to mark which occasion?

New Year's Eve is when the giant chick comes down, in the early evening rather than at midnight, followed by fireworks over the SteelStacks arts campus.

A Peeps chick took 27 hours to make by hand in 1953; how long does one take since mechanization?

6 minutes is all it takes now, because an engineer in the founding family built a machine to form the chicks, and a version of his design still runs on the factory line.

Which ingredient means that Peeps marshmallow candies are neither vegan nor kosher?

Gelatin gives Peeps their springy chew, and the kind in the recipe comes from pork. Just Born says it has tested vegetarian substitutes without finding one that eats the same.

The microwave game in which two stick-wielding Peeps swell with the heat is named after which combat sport?

Jousting, Peeps style, is won by whichever chick swells biggest and jabs its rival first. It is one of many fan pastimes, alongside art contests and a dessert pizza called Peepza.

Which cinnamon candy did the maker of Peeps create by remelting leftover fruit candies and adding heat?

Hot Tamales began in 1950 as a thrifty fix: the founder's son, the engineer who later mechanized Peeps, turned unused candy into one of the company's best-known brands.

Which soft drink brand joined Peeps in 2021 to release a limited-edition marshmallow-flavored cola?

Pepsi made the marshmallow cola a sweepstakes prize at first, so fans could only win it; the drink reached store shelves in 2023.

Which sitcom has cadet Francis eat 100 "Quacks", a stand-in for Peeps, to settle an argument?

Malcolm in the Middle opened its second season with the dare, in the episode "Traffic Jam", and Francis gets through all 100 of the marshmallow birds.

Which Pennsylvania steel town has housed the Peeps factory since Just Born left New York in 1932?

Bethlehem took in the candy maker during the Great Depression, when it moved into an empty factory there and became a major employer beside the famous steelworks.

Which color of Peeps chicks and bunnies does Just Born say remains America's best seller?

Yellow was the color of the original marshmallow chicks, and it still outsells every shade the company has introduced since.

Which cookie brand sold a 2017 limited edition with Peeps-flavored creme between vanilla wafers?

Oreo timed the February release for the run-up to Easter, swapping its usual chocolate cookies for vanilla ones around the marshmallow filling.

Which fruit-flavored chew, launched by Just Born in 1940, is a factory stablemate of Peeps?

Mike and Ike made headlines in 2012, when an ad campaign had the two namesakes "split up", one leaving for music and the other for art, before reuniting a year later.

A machine that put sticks into which treats won Peeps patriarch Sam Born the key to San Francisco?

Lollipops got their sticks mechanically from his Born Sucker Machine of 1916, an invention that predates the candy company itself.

Which Edward Hopper diner painting did a winning Washington Post Peeps diorama recreate?

Nighthawks became "NightPeeps", a box-sized diner with two working fluorescent lights that beat roughly 1,100 other entries in the newspaper's Easter contest.

What coats the outside of a Peeps marshmallow chick?

Colored sugar over fluffy marshmallow is how the brand itself sums up the candy; only the eyes and a few decorations are made of anything else.

Settlers from which country brought the Easter Bunny, now a Peeps shape, to Pennsylvania and then America?

Germany's Protestant emigrants told their Pennsylvania children about the Osterhase, an egg-bringing hare that first judged whether youngsters had been good.

What are the eyes of a Peeps chick made of, the one part that lab testers could not dissolve?

Carnauba wax, an edible wax from the leaves of a Brazilian palm, was all that remained of one test chick: two brown eyes floating in the beaker.

How were Peeps chicks shaped at the Lancaster candy factory before Just Born mechanized production?

Piped through pastry tubes by a group of women working in the back of the factory, each chick took 27 hours to finish.

Just Born bought the Lancaster company that made Peeps mainly for its skill with which other Easter candy?

Jelly beans were the prize of the 1953 deal; the marshmallow chicks were a small sideline that happened to intrigue the new owners.

Which ancient people reputedly first used the marsh-mallow plant, namesake of Peeps' base, as a remedy?

Egyptians are said to have used the plant's root to soothe coughs and sore throats; candy makers later swapped the root for a setting agent, creating the modern marshmallow.

In which New York City borough did Sam Born open the candy shop whose window sign named the Peeps maker?

Brooklyn shoppers saw a sign reading "Just Born" over each day's fresh candy in his window, a pun on his surname that became the company name.

Which ice cream topping does the maker of Peeps say its founder invented?

Sprinkles of the chocolate kind are a company claim rather than settled fact, since advertisements for them ran in America before Just Born existed.

The Peepsmobile that Just Born sends to promotional events is a converted example of which small car?

VW Beetle, or "VW bug" in the company's words, is the base of the Peepsmobile, which toured the country for the candy's 50th anniversary.

Which competitive eater downed 255 Peeps in one five-minute sitting to win a 2017 world championship?

Matt Stonie beat his own winning total from the year before by 55 Peeps and took home $1,750 for the afternoon's work.

Which Philadelphia candy, bought by the maker of Peeps in 2003, began as a World War I military ration?

Peanut Chews were made for U.S. troops by the Goldenberg family from 1917, and they still come from the same Philadelphia factory rather than the Peeps plant.

Peeps offered a Dallas Cowboys player a season's supply after which hard candy led to his root canal?

Jolly Ranchers chipped safety Barry Church's tooth before training camp, so the marshmallow brand pitched itself as the softer snack, and he happily accepted.

The engineer who mechanized Peeps had been accepted to study what before joining the family firm instead?

Medicine was the plan, but he took a job at the family candy business while waiting for classes to start, found the work interesting and never left.

Which Lancaster candy company was making Peeps by hand when Just Born bought it in 1953?

Rodda treated the marshmallow chicks as a small sideline to its main Easter lines; the buyers saw more in them and turned Peeps into the company's signature.

Which Atlanta school housed the two "Peep Investigators" who tested Peeps in solvents, heat and cold?

Emory University's Gary Falcon and James Zimring began after a 1997 dinner party, heading straight for the microwave, and CNN later filmed their mock-serious research.

For the 50th anniversary of Peeps in 2003, Just Born entered a float in which annual televised event?

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade capped a year of celebrations that also sent two Peeps fun buses touring the country.

Which state got the first Peeps & Company store when it opened at National Harbor on the Potomac River?

Maryland welcomed the store in 2009 under a giant inflatable chick, eight miles south of the White House; most of what it sold could not be eaten.

In which European capital did Peeps patriarch Sam Born learn chocolate-making before reaching America?

Paris was where his family settled after fleeing the Russian Empire; a former rabbinical student, he gave his job as "candy maker" on the ship that carried him to Philadelphia.

Peeps maker Just Born says its founder developed the hard chocolate coating used on which ice cream bar?

Eskimo Pie owes its crackly shell to him, by the company's account, which also credits him with other candy-making innovations from before Peeps joined the family business.

Which pastel shade became the first new Peeps color in decades when Just Born added it in 1995?

Lavender ended a long run in which the chicks came in only three traditional colors, and a blue version followed in 1998.

Which Wisconsin city's art museum hosts the Annual International Peeps Art Exhibition every spring?

Racine Art Museum started the show to brighten a dull Wisconsin winter, and it hands out First Peep, Second Peep and Third Peep honors plus a PEEPles Choice Award.

The first TV commercial for Peeps, aired in 1999, showed animated chicks swing dancing to which oldie?

Rockin' Robin got a 15-second Broadway-style treatment in the ad, which arrived more than four decades after Just Born started making the candy.

Just Born's early logo, a pun on the Peeps maker's name, showed what resting in a candy scale?

A baby in a candy scale played on the sign in the founder's shop window, which announced that each day's sweets were freshly made.

Roughly how many Peeps does Just Born say it produces each year across all seasons?

2 billion a year works out to about 5.5 million every day, by the company's own count.

Which solvent finally dissolved a Peeps chick in lab tests that water, acetone and acid had failed?

Phenol, which breaks down proteins, turned the marshmallow into a purple soup within an hour, though the candy's eyes survived even that.