There are a number of stories and legends that exist around Easter. My personal favorite is the legend that has grown up around the humble Easter egg.
On the Sunday morning following the Crucifixion of Christ, Mary Magdalene took a basket of hard-boiled eggs along with her as she went to Christ’s tomb. Roman soldiers were guarding the tomb, the authorities having been alerted to a possible theft of Christ’s body. Roman soldiers were no different than any other soldier at any other time in history. Judea was a detested posting. Their pay did not allow for gourmet items like hard-boiled eggs and there was no Fed Ex to ship care packages from their families back in Rome.
Mary was going to use the eggs as an incentive (bribe) to allow entry into the tomb. Legends being legends and hard-boiled eggs in a basket of straw being what it was, well you can guess the rest. The only things missing in that basket, though, were marshmallow Peeps!
There is some controversy as to when Peeps were invented, how and why, but then that adorable little marshmallow confection excels in controversy. You either love them or hate them. Either they are a decorating tool or an object for abject abuse. Everyone has an opinion. Unfortunately, those who enjoy ingesting a Peep or two are often the subject of ridicule and harassment.
First, Peeps are harmless as long as one is not a sugared-up four-year-old. They only have 32 calories and no grams of fat and only 7.25 grams of sugar! As to their nature, I think it wise not to delve too closely into the actual chemical composition of the little critters. Allegedly they are made of water, sugar, gelatin, and something called carnauba wax.
Further investigation reveals that carnauba wax comes from Brazil and is a byproduct of the Carnauba Palm. Items made from this mysterious substance include car wax, shoe polish, candy corn and, when mixed with coconut oil, surfboard wax! It is an important ingredient in make-up, Tic-Tacs, chewing gum, and is used to coat medicinal tablets.
Peeps may have been born, pun intended, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, created by Bob Born, scion of the Just Born candy dynasty in 1953. Is this a cover-up hiding the real nature of the Peep? Some scholars suggest the inoffensive little confection was created decades earlier by the Rodda Candy Corporation in 1920. Just Born purchased Rodda in 1953, suspiciously the same year Peeps were allegedly created.
Article comments
1 - Kaonashi
Thank you for your thoughtful and amusing insight into those wonderful Peeps! And I loved your links!