Spring—specifically March—is my favorite time of year. Yes, I love that it’s finally time to see birds, squirrels, and the like creep back out into the world after a chilly winter hibernation. And sure, I love the color-coordinated rows of tulips blooming in the middle of Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue (truly a sight to behold!). And the fact that I finally get to bare an ankle, even if it is ghostly pale? Thrilling. But if I’m being truly honest, there’s really one thing that symbolizes that warmer days are on the horizon: my local convenience store being stocked with candy-colored Peeps.
Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the 1940s, Peeps were originally marshmallow confections hand-shaped into Easter mascots, then doused liberally in a dust bath of granulated sugar dyed in the most vivid hues of pink, yellow, purple, and blue never before seen in nature. Since then, the process has become fully automated thanks to machinery, and now it only takes six minutes flat for a quintet of spring Peeps—shaped traditionally into thick-eared bunnies and sharp-beaked chickens—to be born.
Peeps were always a staple at my house growing up in Dallas, Texas. But my candy-loving mom had one very strange Easter tradition that came along with dyeing eggs and gifts from the Easter Bunny—our Peeps always came with a purposeful tear in the packaging. You see, my mother taught me young: Stale Peeps are the best Peeps of all.
Here’s what happens when you expose your Peeps to the open air for a day (or, ideally, five!) before digging in: The typically soft sugar outside hardens. Suddenly, your ooey-gooey marshmallow bunny that may leave your fingers sticky after grasping just a single one now has the presentation of a Cadbury egg… crispy sugar shell on the outside, still soft on the inside.
If you think what I’m saying is weird, may I please present countless Reddit threads from over the years dedicated to the subject. “Ideally, they should sit for at least four days, but I can rarely hold out that long,” one passionate Redditor wrote. And if the word “stale” is throwing you off, a different commenter has an idea: “Calling them aged is much fancier than stale.” Just like wine, these treats are much better aged. (Side note: Will be trying them frozen asap at the behest of many of these Peep-ful, who claim it’s even better.)
As Vogue’s wellness editor, I legally can’t advise you to join the elite world of dry-aging your Peeps. But as a decades-long fan of the sweet, I know even the greatest naysayers will love the crispy-crunchy treat of a stale peep.
#Hear #OutYou #Eating #Peeps #Stale
