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It’s totally changed the game.
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Jamie Sanders
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Rachel Perlmutter is a recipe developer, food stylist, and culinary producer at The Kitchn. Originally from Houston, Texas, she spends her free time trying to perfect kolaches and breakfast tacos that taste like home. Rachel currently lives in Brooklyn with her partner, dog, cat and rabbit, where they all share a love of seasonal local produce.
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Rachel Perlmutter
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Some of the labels you see on a carton of eggs may refer to similar-sounding, or even the same, things (if a chicken is “pasture-raised” isn’t it also “free-range”?), but there are big differences in how the hens laying your eggs are treated. Here, we break down the difference between the three most common labels for eggs in the grocery store.
When eggs are labeled “cage-free,” it means that the chickens who laid those eggs (“layer hens”) live in an open indoor space. Per the USDA, “Eggs labeled ‘cage-free’… are laid by hens that are allowed to roam in a room or open area, which is typically a barn or poultry house.” This is a big departure from decades past when hens raised in cages was a more prevalent practice. While there is no federal legislation banning the use of cages, many states have either banned their use entirely or required that farms phase them out.
‘Free-range’ eggs were laid by hens with access to the outdoors. While this label is regulated by the USDA, there are very few guidelines in place governing what “access to the outdoors” means in practice. Look for labels from third-party regulators like Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC). They work to ensure the quality of life of farm animals, including ensuring eggs labeled ‘free-range’ come from hens who have meaningful access to the outdoors (i.e., the hens actually go outdoors, as opposed to these simply being an opening in their housing that hens may or may not be able to access due to overcrowding) and that farms follow their standards for humane care.
Pasture-raised eggs offer the best quality of life for layer hens that we’ve covered here. Although this term is not regulated by the USDA, you can rely on labels from the HFAC or American Humane Farm Program to indicate that hens are given a minimum of 108 square feet of outdoor space to roam in addition to indoor housing. Hens have room to move, engage in natural behaviors, and have access to fresh air and sunshine.
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Andrea Rivera Wawrzyn
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Spring is in the air — the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and the grocery store is full of Peeps! Those little marshmallow-based confections are one of the sure signs that spring has arrived. In the 70 years since they were invented by Bob Born, they’ve secured a spot as one of the most beloved treats for Easter (not to mention Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day, for which there are completely new broods of Peeps to love).
While Peeps are delightfully sweet and squishy right out of the package, if you’ve spent time on social media lately you may have seen folks doing something a little different with these cute Easter sweets: microwaving Peeps!
Microwaving Peeps is super quick and easy to do. Place a single Peep on a microwave-safe plate, and microwave for about 20 to 25 seconds. In mere seconds, you’ll see the small chickadee puff up like a balloon. Because there are so many varieties of Peeps available, it’s important to note that the results should be similar with any flavor, but different ingredients may affect the final product slightly. The standard ingredients in Peeps are sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and less than 0.5% of Yellow #5, Potassium Sorbate, Natural Flavors, and Carnuba Wax. But what the ingredient list doesn’t include is something that ends up making all the difference: air!
Within each Peep, the mixture of sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin creates air bubbles, which help the sweets keep their characteristic shape. Microwaves heat from the inside out, so when you microwave a Peep, the water molecules in the corn syrup heat rapidly, creating steam, which forces the air bubbles to expand, causing your Peep to swell to four times its original size — but for just a moment — before deflating to a goopy mess on your plate (you did remember to use a plate, didn’t you?).
As soon as you take the Peeps out of the microwave, you’ll see all the effects of the experiment. First, you’ll note a slightly nutty, burnt sugar smell — a result of the sugars breaking down within. You’ll also see the Peeps’ stretchy, gooey consistency, like a cheese pull but for marshmallows. In terms of flavor, a microwaved Peep is very similar to its uncooked counterparts, but because texture is so important to the Peeps experience, these hit way different. They become chewy or even crunchy depending on how much time they’ve spent in the microwave. (Because this relies on the specific ingredient combination present in Peeps, this experiment won’t work with vegan varieties.)
Once you’ve microwaved a Peep, there’s not much you can do with it (although you can use them to make edible slime). A better alternative is to bake or fire-roast your Peeps, like toasting marshmallows for s’mores. One year, my stepmother used Peeps to top her sweet potato casserole instead of the traditional marshmallows. It worked beautifully, and, for the most part, you can substitute Peeps for regular marshmallows in many recipes. Here are some of our favorites.
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Stephanie Ganz
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