PASSIONATE RATIONS

Okay.  I admit it.  They’re cute.  Little chick-shaped marshmallow puffs covered with yellow sugar, a diminutive drawn-on face.  But do people really eat these things?!

Their spongy, gelatinous consistency, made grainy by the sugary topping, is…well…gag-worthy.

Not to mention the fact that pure sugar injections of this sort tend to lack the depth and complexity of, say, a piece of 60% dark chocolate.  (Not that I’m one to disparage the merits of pure sugar consumption, since I’ve been known to eat brown sugar by the spoonful for dessert).

Annnnyway, I like my marshmallow only in limited formats:  in Fluff® as melty-white topping for my hot chocolate or as the glue that holds a Rice Krispies® Treat together.  A marshmallow puff in a S’more works for me too, but I think that’s because of its colleagues—the graham cracker and the chocolate.  In fact, it appears that I only like marshmallow as a sidekick.

Throughout my childhood, however, marshmallow kept showing up at Easter-time in these odd-shaped packages in which it was the primary ingredient—like Peeps or as the filling for these multi-colored hard-shelled egg-like things.  Just the memories make my stomach hurt.  I began to think the Easter bunny had it in for me.

But then I realized something grand:  Peeps harden into permanent fixtures.  For a number of years I had a couple of Peeps just sitting in my room spreading their Peeps-like merriment to all comers.  They looked the same at the end as they had at the beginning.

Until the water got ‘em.