Peeps are not my favorite treat; they taste disgusting and have an awful texture. It’d be fair to say that this is just one man’s opinion, if only there weren’t so many articles corroborating my point of view. Inc.com posted the following list of headlines condemning that popular Easter candy:
* CafeMom calls them a “crime against humanity.”
* Delish says they’re “horrendous,” and “totally inferior to all other Easter candy.”
* The Guardian: “Sorry, but Peeps are disgusting.”
* The Mercury News: “I dislike them intensely.”
* Reader’s Digest: “They don’t actually taste that good.”
Yet, every year, more than 700 million peeps are consumed by Americans. The Rodda Candy Company starting making the little marshmallow birds back in the 1940s. However, they were never meant to be consumed. Instead they were given to customers as a small gift in exchange for their loyalty. It might not sound like much of a gift, but back then, peeps took almost 27 hours to make by hand!
A decade later and the Rodda Candy Company was acquired by another company called Just Born. Just Born foresaw the popularity of Peeps and was able to drastically reduce production time to just 6 minutes. Because of the ease of production and the growing demand, a candy titan was born.
Just Born continues to sell Peeps and though it is no longer its top seller, billions are consumed worldwide every year. Even more surprising, 75% of all Peeps are purchased for Easter.
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