SAN DIEGO, California — Peeps are traditionally a sign of Spring: brightly colored marshmallow candy that’s front and center on store shelves.
Long after Easter, Peeps, made by the Just Born company, appear to stay fresh as ever, seemingly indestructible in their pastel packages.
In 2002, KGTV television station in San Diego put the durability of the everlasting marshmallows to the test. Reporter Herb Cawthorne, photographer Richard Klein and producer Revelle Anderson put Peeps on camera.
The inspiration was simple, according to Klein.
“We were sitting around talking about the purpose behind the Peep,” Klein said.
That led to an elaborate shoot at San Diego locations. The candy was shot, run over, thrown off a five-story tower, and stomped with a crane.
"During the entire shoot I chewed on a Peep. It never got smaller. I wondered how we ate them as kids,” Cawthorne told KGTV in 2018.
The 2002 video shows only children eating the Peeps.
Adults may want to take notice. Peeps are gluten-free and fat-free.
Since their inception Peeps have crossed over into other holidays as well, now available in a variety of shapes for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and the summer season.
Peeps were first created in 1953 by laboriously hand-squeezing marshmallow through pastry tubes, according to Just Born. The process was eventually simplified and brought the production time of the treat from 27 hours down to 6 minutes.
The time it takes to destroy the sugary treat, however, remains up to consumers.
