Many Americans know the classical yellow marshmallow shaped like a cute, chubby bird: Peeps. However, this sugary goodness also comes in a variety of unexpected flavors and some different shapes. Because Easter is just around the corner, your local grocery store is now packed with more Peeps than the whole rest of the year. In fact, about five minutes after Valentines Day, Peeps and Easter merchandise flooded the candy halls in grocery stores.

So – if you’re interested in venturing into the unknown delicacy of Peeps, here is a review of various flavors by an Accolade staff writer and her friend.

All the Peeps in the experiment were bought from Kroger, and the selections include:

• Milk Chocolate Covered Marshmallow
• Orange Sherbet (Delights collection)
• Pancakes & Syrup
• Party Cake
• Pink Bunnies
• Root Bear Float
• Sugar Free Yellow
• White decorated Easter eggs

The bunnies and different colored Peeps have the same flavor as the yellow Peeps, unless a flavor is noted in bold type on the packaging. To fit the season spirit, the bunny and Easter-egg-shaped ones were bought. In addition, each type of Peep was rated out of 10, with 10 being the best. Accolade reporter Marjorie Hsu with former Centennial student Ginny Metcalf tried out these Peeps.

#1 Easter Eggs – Rating: 7.3 out of 10

Hsu: “The egg ones aren’t bad, they kind of taste like the party cake ones, but because it is Easter season, it fulfills my holiday satisfaction.”

Metcalf: “I love Easter because I get to wear pastels and eat Peeps.”

#2 Pancakes & Syrup – Rating: 6 out of 10

H: “They’re a beautiful beige color, like a light fluffy creme. They’re coated with noticeable sugar.”

M: “Oh, they smell really nice.”

H: “The aroma makes the experience very. . .pleasant.”

Eating the Pancake Peeps kind of felt like a betrayal. It’s like drinking LaCroix, but no flavor would ever come that matched up to the mouthwatering smell it gave off. It was kind of like if one were to hypothetically eat a candle because it smelled so fragrant, but alas, it tasted like a regular Peep. Overall, it was sort of anti-climactic, but it’s not the worst because of its sweet normality. It’s simplicity dressed like a daydream.

#3 Root beer Float – Rating: 2 out 0f 10

H: “We have opened the root beer one, and we’re slightly afraid.”

M: “I’m very afraid.”

H: “It’s kind of like the pancake ones, but a much more opaque brown. It smells interesting? It doesn’t precisely smell like root beer.”

M: “It’s weird. I am not going enjoy this, but I’ll do it for you because that’s how friendship works.”

H: “The smell seems to indicate a strange aftertaste. When you touch it, its beauty easily deflates as the white inside of it erupts from the brown coating. And they are much more covered in a brown sugar [?.]”

M: “I feel like I got a clump of molasses, and then covered it in sugar.”

(Reviewers taste…)

M: “I hate it. . . it’s disgusting. Save your money.” She added, “Although, from the one time I’ve drank a root beer float, I would say it tastes like root beer.”

#4 Sugar Free Yellow – Rating: -2 out of 10

Frankly, Peeps are not Peeps without sugar. The texture is very tough and stiff. Like the orange flavor, they’re the most expensive ones that come at about $3 for only a total of three marshmallows. Perhaps some people would like it. It’d be like wanting to try ice cream without the fluffy soft texture and sweetness. If you really cannot eat sugar yet are desperate to try a Peep, this wouldn’t be a terrible go-to.

#5 Orange Sherbert – Rating 3 out of 10

These are as expensive as the sugar free yellow ones and come in the skimpy quantity of three. For the price, you’d really hope they were worth your money. Especially with the packaging saying “dipped in decadent creme flavored fudge.”

Fortunately, they’re chunky and thick. Metcalf suspects the ‘fudge’ underneath them is white chocolate. I’ve never come across any chocolate that tastes similar. At the very least, the chocolate visually blends with the peep’s pastel orange.

Upon opening them, they smell wonderful. Not as citrussy as a an orange-scented Clorox wipe, but a soft and gentle orange. The first taste is pretty solid, but after chewing a bit the fudge sends mixed messages with a strange aftertaste. Metcalf suggests they would taste fine without the fudge if you chip it off, but that’d be a lot of work. In addition, you could DIY your own choco-dipped Peeps by melting a chocolate bar in the microwave, getting a pack of regular peeps which is half off the orange ones and dip them yourselves. What could’ve been a possibly better option would be the regular dipped in milk chocolate.

#6 Pink Bunnies – Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Different colored peeps such as these often taste like the classic yellow ones. It’s like buying Lucky Charms or Froot Loops cereal but the different colorful grains have the same taste. However, it’s beauty to be cute and fit the Easter theme is very holiday fulfilling, just like the Easter eggs flavor.

#7 Party Cake – Rating 9.1 out of 10

H: “Because there is no set flavor it’s trying to mimic [because party cakes are ambiguously flavored] it is very satisfying just the way it is.”

H: “It looks like a beautiful confetti covered chick.”

M: “It’s amazing. Ten out of ten!”

H: “It kinda tastes like a softer dreamy version of the regular peeps.”

M: “And they’re prettier.”

This was the highest rated peep and by far both of our favorites. It noticeably has a different taste than the classic Peep in a soft, dreamy way. The smell isn’t aggressively branding it’s flavor. It’s very cute, and lives up to the sweet, softness it seems to be. It’s hard to describe its flavor unless you try it, but it’s pretty similar to vanilla.

#8 Milk Chocolate Covered Marshmallow – Rating 7 out of 10

Interestingly, the Peep brand sells various other products in the Peep theme. They have jelly beans, marshmallow kabobs, and even sell cute stuffed toys on their site. One of these items is the chocolate covered marshmallow, which is like the reverse of the “Delights” collection. It tastes best if you warm it up for a few seconds in the microwave to get the savory of melting chocolate and marshmallow mixed together. It’s a to go to candy if you’re craving chocolate and marshmallows. However, it’s a bit more pricey for $1.50, the same price for on sale Peep packages at Kroger.

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