Peeps still rolling strong at 60

What’s yellow, pink, blue, lavender, green and orange and turns 60 this year? It’s those chick- or bunny-shaped marshmallow treats made by Just Born in Bethlehem, Pa.

Just Born’s marshmallow Peeps come in the original yellow, blue, pink and lavender as well as green and orange.

Just Born began in 1910 when candy maker Sam Born emigrated from Russia. He first produced chocolate sprinkles, known as Jimmies, and the hard chocolate coating for ice cream bars. In 1916, he invented a machine that mechanically inserted sticks into lollipops.

In 1923, Born opened a small candy store in Brooklyn, N.Y. He marketed the freshness of his line of daily-made candy with a sign that declared, “Just Born.” The company thrived in spite of the economic depression of the 1930s and, in 1932, moved its operations to an empty printing factory in Bethlehem.

Just Born buys Peeps maker

In 1953, Just Born acquired the Rodda Candy Co. of Lancaster, Pa. Although Rodda was best known for its jelly beans, it also made a small line of marshmallow products that included a popular Easter Peep that was made by laboriously hand-squeezing marshmallow through pastry tubes. Born’s son, Bob, who joined the company in 1946, helped mechanize the marshmallow forming process, and Just Born has become the world’s largest manufacturer of novelty marshmallow treats.

To celebrate its birthday, the sugar, corn syrup and gelatin treat released its first commercial in a decade. The ad features two brothers who wake up on Easter morning to rush downstairs and find baskets filled with Peeps. “Oh my gosh. Peeps are THE candy of Easter,” the older boy tells his younger brother. He goes on throughout church, and Easter egg hunt and the rest of the day, listing the different uses of Peeps.

Fun facts

According to the company, yellow is the most popular color of the marshmallow peeps and bunnies. In 1953, it took 27 hours to create one chick. Today, thanks to technology, it takes six minutes. The company makes enough Peeps in one year to circle the Earth twice. In the late 1950’s, Peeps wings were “clipped” to give them a sleek, modern look. Yellow and white chicks and bunnies came first, followed by pink, lavender, blue, green and orange. And, if you had 8,000 Peeps bunnies, and you stood them in a straight vertical line, you could reach the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago.

Peeps lovers send chicks into battle in a microwave “sport” known as Peeps jousting. They concoct recipes like “Peepza,” a desert pizza. They write cheeky blog entries with titles like “101 Fun Ways to Torture a Peep.” And they enter Peeps art contests around the country including one locally sponsored by the Washington Post Magazine, which is in its seventh year. The deadline for this year’s dioramas was Feb. 25 with winners to be announced online on Mar. 27 and in the magazine on Easter Sunday, Mar. 31. You can see this year’s winners as well as photos of past entries at www.washingtonpost.com/peeps.

Peeps are available at just about any grocery, drug or discount store in the area. Peeps and other candies from Just Born, which also makes Hot Tamales, Mike and Ike, Peanut Chews and Teenee Beanee jelly beans, are also available at the original Peeps & Company retail at National Harbor, just across the Potomac from D.C., which opened in 2009. The store also stocks gifts with the product logos. The company’s other two stores are Bethlehem and at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.

The Peeps and Company store in National Harbor.

Article by DC on Heels Entertainment Editor Mark Heckathorn