Peeps, an Easter classic, can sometimes be a little polarizing; I can’t remember how many times I’ve heard peeps naysayers wrinkle their noses when passing the candy isle during Easter Season. I, however, am definitely a fan. Therefore, I decided to take on this challenge and try to guess their new mystery flavored Peeps. Who knows, maybe the hard effort I put into tying little, pink ribbons onto individual Peep necks will pay off and I’ll win some sort of prize for my spot on guesses.
Methods
Of course, since this is actual science, it’s probably important as to how I conducted this taste test. I first enlisted the help of my roommate Kate, a fellow fan of marshmallow candy, so that I could get a second opinion. I then spent hours (okay, more like thirty minutes) tying different colored ribbons on the peeps, both for the aesthetic and so that I could actually tell the difference between flavors. Finally, both Kate and I actually conducted the taste test: smelling each Peep first before giving our opinions and best guesses about the flavor.
Mystery Flavor #1
Upon the first smell test, these Peeps gave off a distinct, minty smell almost like that of a dentist’s office. This made me a little nervous because I’m usually not a fan of mint candy. However, I swallowed my fears and hesitantly continued on with the taste test. My roommate Kate, however, immediately took a bite and said: “I’m with this”, so there’s that.
In terms of taste, the Peeps definitely tasted less minty than they smelled, which was a positive for me. Something that definitely caught our attention was how familiar this flavor was. It was definitely a candy both of us had had before, probably in our childhoods. It basically had a vague sugar-candy flavor like candy cigarettes or Necco Wafers.
Flavor Guess: Necco Wafers, after some debate
Mystery Flavor #2
Upon first smell, I knew immediately that I would like this flavor way better than the first one. It definitely smelled citrus-y, which Kate pointed out right away. Excited to try this flavor, we both devoured our Peeps.
“Mmmmmm..” was our first reaction to this flavor. Since we both already assumed it was a citrus flavor, it was easy to pick out that it was something related to lime. Kate’s first guess was the lemon sandwich Girl Scout cookies, while I guessed key lime pie. However, we could not help but suspect some sort of meringue, so we refined our guesses.
Flavor Guess: lemon meringue pie
Mystery Flavor #3
This mystery flavor definitely had the most distinct (and wonderful) smell, to the point that my mouth started watering. Kate summed up the bright, tangy flavor as “Kool-Aid bursts smell” if that helps.
Okay, I’ll just begin by saying that this was the flavor that confused Kate and I the most. The tanginess that we both got from the smell translated to the taste, but the rest was somehow . . . yogurty? Kate had a similarly confused reaction, asking why she liked the flavor so much in the first place and stating that it was putting her “in a trance”. The other component of this Peep flavor was its fruitiness, which we decided was strawberry. However, both of us were stumped as to what this added up to. Very intriguing.
Flavor Guess: strawberries and yogurt or strawberry frappuccino?
So, to conclude, some of these mystery Peeps flavors were easier to guess than others, but they all tasted good. Ultimately, however, both Kate and I’s favorite mystery Peep ended up being mystery flavor #3. Are these guesses accurate? Who knows. Did we eat too many Peeps? Definitely.