Roscoe Rodda was in the fight of his life. His candy factory was right down the road from Milton Hershey’s—yes, THAT Hershey’s—and he needed to set himself apart. So Roscoe embraced a single holiday to get the competitive confectionery edge: Easter. Chocolate eggs, jellybeans… and a secret treat painstakingly sculpted behind closed doors: a marshmallow chick with inquisitive waxy black eyes. These chicks circulated in obscurity until a Navy engineer-turned- candymaker molded them into a squishy, sugary phenomenon. (Today, 1.5 billion Peeps are eaten worldwide, just during Easter alone.) Find out how Peeps went from secretive snack to Easter GOAT—and why some people love ‘em, some hate ‘em, but everyone loves exploding them in the microwave. Here’s why Peeps are the best idea yet.

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