Peep show

Peeps. Ugh. Dayglo marshmallows in the shape of chicks and bunnies. To quote the Boy, "I ate one once, in 4th Grade. They are freakin' disgusting!"

But, as with many edible non-foodstuffs (that orange so-called cheese, for one) there seems to be a soft spot for Peeps in American hearts.  And actually, being made purely of sugar, corn syrup, gelatin and artificial colouring, they can legitimately claim to be both gluten and fat free - practically a health-food! They proliferate especially around Easter time, and then hang around in stores afterwards (they never go bad) at greatly reduced price.  The Boy, inspired by the internet, has been on at me for a while to buy some Peeps and let him put them in the microwave.  Yesterday I finally relented: 50c for a pack of ten seemed a reasonable price to pay to satisfy scientific curiosity.

Here are the Peeps (for some reason enhanced with toothpicks), before and after microwaving.  Our microwave has a dark window, so it wasn't possible to take a good photo of the "during" part, but we can report that they expanded impressively, before imploding into a pile of mush when we opened the oven door.  A Peep pie, if you like. You can reheat them a few times, with the same effect, until they start to burn.

After scraping the remains into the rubbish bin, I had to soak the plate overnight to get rid of the lurid pink stain.

Peeps. Ugh. Just ugh.