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Friday, March 20, 2009
Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio
But will they explode in the microwave?

Today I just noticed Just Born Sugar-Free Peeps in the hyper-pastel Easter candy aisle at CVS.� The diatetic treats are made with Splenda, and carry the appetizing warning that "excessive consumption may cause stomach discomfort and/or a mild laxative effect." Good times! Anyway, since that the female half of Meal Ticket is a card-carrying candy fiend, the sugarless marshmallow chicks had to be put to the test in a side by side comparison with traditional, corn-syrup filled Peeps.

PEEP
SMACKDOWN
MATRIX

Traditional Corn-Syrup Peeps Sugar-Free Splenda Peeps
Looks Slightly mashed and misshapen,
these are less than gorgeous,
even in spring green
Packaged in a wasteful but effective plastic box, these chicks get the star treatment and wind up� looking cartoonishly perfect

Price to
Serving Ratio

$1.50 for 10 Peeps,
two 5-Peep servings

$1.50 for three larger-than-average
Peeps, equaling one serving
Taste & Texture Crispy sugar exterior provides a
subtle crunch to the very soft, fresh
Peep marshmallow. Very sweet.
No sugary crunch or texture contrast. Marshmallow is still soft,
but does not spring back when bitten. Less sweet than regular
Peeps, with a slight chemical off-flavor characteristic of sugar alcohols.

Microwave
Explodability,
30 sec on High

Behaved in the predictable manner, blowing up
and tilting over, revealing a burnt, stiff sugar
interior

Swelled into a hostile blob-like MegaPeep.
Yellow coating melted off and formed a toxic lake.
Interior turned brown and taffy-like, very chewy.

Calories per

Serving

140 calories per 5 Peep serving, 0g fat,
34g sugar

60 calories per 3 Peep serving, 0g fat,
0g sugar

Conclusions

Gold-standard Easter basket filler.

Cheap, unhealthy and way sweet.
A classic.

Lacks the crispy outside/soft inside texture
contrast that
makes original Peeps so
well-loved, but if you can't eat sugar, these
are a
decent substitute.

Visit Just Born's Web site, marshmallowpeeps.com, to find stores that carry Sugar-Free Peeps, or to take a tour of the Just Born factory in Bethlehem.

Posted by Felicia D'Ambrosio @ 5:00 PM  Permalink | File Under: Product Placement | | Vegetarian | Post a comment
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About Meal Ticket
Founded in October 2008, Meal Ticket is a City Paper blog about food, drink and assorted other things that make you go mmm. We do recipes, interviews, restaurant news, commentary and much more. We don't do restaurant reviews herethose are handled in print, mostly by our critic (and Meal Ticket contributor) Adam Erace. Got a tip, question, thought or concern? Just want to say hello? Please shoot a note to drew.lazor@citypaper.net.

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