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The History of Easter Candy
tanagra writes "The days are longer, the sun is brighter, the colors are rich, and the candies are pastel. It's springtime once again, and in celebration of its triumphant return we enter into the saccharin sanctity of a world filled with Marshmallow Peeps, Jelly Beans, and other well packaged bits of sweetness sure to bring about a sugar-induced coma. Join us as we delve into the delectable not-so-distant past of Easter candy and learn, among other things, just how Marshmallow Peeps came to rule the world."
When I saw this article being posted, I let out a little peep.
"There's companies that are just so cool that you just can't even deal with it," - Bill Gates, about Google
...welcome our puffy sugary overlords..
OK, so they're actually my wife's secret master. Last night, we spent over an hour driving to and looking in three different grocery stores all in a vain quest to find Cadbury eggs. This even included a trip to Wal-Mart on a Saturday night, something I recommend to no man who wishes to keep his car undinged, his sense of dignity whole, and the smell of the quite literally unwashed masses from accompanying him...
One thing we're sure of, the Easter Egg originated from the one and only Effram the Retarded Rabbit.
I knew my childhood was missing something...
But throwing up peeps?
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I've never heard of Marshmallow Peeps. Are they our secret masters?
As an European, neither had I. Sweet Wikipedia to the rescue!
I like this part: The messy and largely self-entertaining game, "Peep Jousting" is played with a microwave. One takes two Peeps, and licks the right-hand side of each until sticky. A toothpick is thereby adhered to each Peep, pointing forward like a jousting lance. The Peeps are then set in a microwave, squared off against one another, and heated up. As they expand, the toothpick lances thrust toward each opponent, and the winner is the one that does not pop and deflate.
I heard that it was a Anglo goddess named Eastre that took the form of a bunny/hare. Anyone else know anything about that? What about the eggs?
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
The Easter Bunny Hates you
Bunnies, baby chicks, eggs. All fertility symbols linked to the new life seen in Spring.
Even the name of the "Easter".
//These days, nothing symbolizes Easter and Spring quite like your child throwing up marshmallow peeps. //
Not quite. Nothing symbolizes Easter quite like the empty tomb of Christ.
Frammin' on the jim-jam, frippin' at the krotz!
Because this is so high, I'll add it here:
Peeps are extruded marshmallow cover with all sorts of color material. They're quite pliable.
The Chicago Tribune had an article interviewing the president/CEO and said it's been determined Peeps have a three-year shelf life. (the pres offered the interviewer one and he passed it up.
I would liken this to be like the breakfast cereals which claim to be "part of this nutritional breakfast" and it's okay until they add the extra stuff which would already covers the necessary quanties.
Here's the Official Peeps web site.
Whatever they have in them, they have the bare minimum to qualify as food, just like ventored honey buns. It's like White Castle. (You can find a White Castle franchise when the bars have closed - just look for a list of cars of thirty or more. If somoeone sold White Castle & booze in the same location....
You must be from that other country, Europe.
Perfect is the enemy of done.
The American approach to celebrating Easter is noting more and noting less that a relatively recent invention with purely commercial roots. As it is with most of the holidays in the US, it is trageted at the most vulnerable group - children. It doesn't have any genuine historical or religious background. The idea of that nonsense "ruling the world" is hilarious at best.
I've never heard of Marshmallow Peeps. Are they our secret masters?
I've seen them on TV.
See, this is like when people in the states say "World series", they mean "United states of America series", or when they elect the "leader of the free world", they really mean "the leader of the United states of America".
When a magazine decides to publish a collection of the prettiest people in hollywood, they call them the most beautifull people in the world.
Or when they say "America" and they exclude two thirds of North America, as well as all of South America to only mean "United states of America".
It's the result of a very limited world view.
You can't take the sky from me...
I don't live in Australia but I've tasted Vegemite and even know that Foster's is Australian for beer!
I doubt that many Australians have ever tasted Foster's, and if you ask for it at an Australian pub they will just assume you are a tourist.
The beers most average Australians drink are VB, Tooheys (in NSW), XXXX (in Queensland), and various other beers that vary from state to state.
Fosters: it's Australian for "tourists will drink any old piss!".
Oh, and we have marshmallows here. I've never heard of "marshmallow peeps" before, though.
Or perhaps it's just an author engaging in a bit of hyperbole to spice up his article?
Oh right, because he probably really did mean that marshmallow birds are actually ruling the United States, but he was so narrow-minded he thought that was the whole world.
I made my own marshmellows today - bloody fantastic. Covered them in chocolate too. You should try hacking your own candy.
I once looked at the nutritional value on a packet of Marshmallow Peeps. I discovered that they actually contained more grams in Sugars than the Serving Size weighed.
I vowed from that time forward never to touch a product which violates all known laws of physics...
Only if we can integrate candy and the Martin Luther King Jr. day.. somehow....
I have a Dreamsicle?
Probably the most popular etymology of 'Easter' concerns the Babylonian fertility goddess Ishtar, whose resurrection coincides with the coming of spring.
There's a Starman, waiting in the sky / He'd like to come and meet us, but he hasn't got the time.
WTF is this guy talking about? It may be a lovely sunny day outside but winter is on it's way. The days are getting shorter and it's sure getting colder. There are sure are some werdios posting on this website. While I'm at it, why do birds on TV fly south for winter? Every kid knows it bloody cold down there. Why do you think the Scarfies burn their couches! http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A420850
I've used this argument before about the World Series pointing to an attitude of the USA , but unfortunately it's not really true.
The World Series is so named because it was originally sponsored by a New York newspaper called ... The World! It doesn't change anyone's philosophy but now I can't use it to make fun of my United Statesian friends , more's the pity.
The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
Easter is in April and Christmas is in December.
Spring may in April, but that's only on the Northern Hemisphere. Down on the other side of the world, Autumn starts in April and Christmas is during high summer! Down here we lay on the beach and tan on Christmas day.
--deckert
It begins...
To give credit where credit is due and because the show is genius, this is from the colbert report:
i ng
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gDzdi6-Rd5k&search=hav
What do you mean Judiasm isn't ready for the desktop user? I hear they're going to start using it next year in Jerusalam.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
After reading about the concept of peep jousting on this post, I felt compelled to try it for myself. The peeps get to their fullest size (the size of a baseball) around the 30 second mark on high in the microwave (After that they just turn brown and start to fizzle). After 2 trial runs, I found it hard to adhere the toothpicks to the side by just licking, so I poked it in their bellies instead. While it didn't work too well (they never actually "stabbed" each other), it was still a great time watching them grow to the size of oranges.
That might be a good college prank, to shove 30 peeps in a microwave set to high for 2 minutes and run away.
If I had a blog, this would totally be in it.
Yeah, Yeah, you're right... I need friends.
Saw this one a loooong time ago:
http://www.peepresearch.org/smoking.html
Arguing about vi versus Emacs is like arguing whether it's better to make fire by rubbing sticks or banging rocks.