It’s a church holiday to be exact.
But for kids, Easter is also a candy holiday – the next date on the calendar when they’re guaranteed to get a basket full of chocolaty goodness that they can munch on for the next month.
And all it takes is a walk through a drugstore candy aisle to see how much Americans love their Easter candy.
Whether its hollow chocolate bunnies or marshmallow Peeps or any one of a number of egg-shaped confectionary treats, there are plenty of things to look forward to that you can only find when the spring holiday rolls around on the calendar.
Here are some of the most iconic and popular Easter candy available, whether you’re purchasing it to eat or to put into the microwave with a toothpick so it can do battle against one of its amigos:
Peeps
DESCRIPTION: Bright, sugar-covered marshmallows that are the most recognizable of the Just Born confectionary family, these delightful treats have been a staple of Easter baskets for decades and have spawned their own cult following.
COMPANY: Just Born
CALORIES: 32 for each peep (160 per 5-bird pack).
POPULAR CULTURE: The brightly-colored birds, which have given way in recent years to other holiday-specific issues, are the focal point of a Pennsylvania festival and have become more well-known in the last decade for their performance in the microwave – the individual birds themselves expand greatly when nuked and are pitted against rival colors in toothpick wars. In 2013 late night television host Jimmy Kimmel challenged basketball great Shaquille O’Neal to see how many of the bright treats he could fit in his mouth. He finished with 21.
Hollow Chocolate Bunnies
DESCRIPTION: The name is pretty self-explanatory – they are mold-casted chocolate rabbits that have long been the rockstars of the Easter candy.
COMPANY: Varies
CALORIES: 240 (counts vary depending on manufacturer and size)
POPULAR CULTURE: It was cocoa rationing during World War II that produced the modern hollow chocolate bunny, and the idea of turning the iconic Easter candy dates back to the mid 1800’s – first circulated by Whitman’s Chocolates.
Cadbury Crème Eggs
DESCRIPTION: One of the quintessential Easter candies, this crème filled chocolate egg includes a mock yellow yolk and has helped the UK-based company, which is owned by Kraft Foods, become a household name. Much like hollow chocolate bunnies, Cadbury Crème Eggs are often a standalone candy – they’re purchased individually and not as part of a pack.
COMPANY: Cadbury/Hershey
CALORIES: 150
POPULAR CULTURE: When the company announced that they would no longer be using dairy milk in the chocolate shell earlier this year, the internet erupted and made #cadbury a trending topic on Twitter. The uproar prompted the distributor not to make any changes to the US market.
Cadbury Mini Eggs
DESCRIPTION: They’re small and they’re speckled and they’re terribly addictive – so purchasing a big bag isn’t necessarily a great idea if you can’t say no to mouth-watering milk chocolate wrapped in a bright candy shell. Think of these are very, very large M&M’s, although some would say that they’re even better.
COMPANY: Cadbury/Hershey
CALORIES: 190 (12 pieces)
POPULAR CULTURE: The company captured the internet recently when they came up with step-by-step directions on how to give yourself a manicure so that your nails end up looking like the delicious mini eggs. Eating your fingers is not advised.
Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
DESCRIPTION: There are jelly beans. And then there are Jelly Bellies. One you eat by the handful. The other – you eat either individually to appreciate the amazing flavors. Whole websites are dedicated to “recipes” for blending individual flavors. Good luck enjoying that kind of pastime with a standard bag of pastel beans.
COMPANY: Jelly Belly
CALORIES: 4 per bean
POPULAR CULTURE: The California manufacturing plant for the wildly-popular Jelly Bellies is in Fairfield and tours of the facility are a rite of passage for anybody who grew up within a stone’s throw of the candy-lovers paradise. It is here that you can see all of your favorite flavors as they’re prepped for shipment and purchase just about anything Jelly Belly related you can think of.
PEZ
DESCRIPTION: There are entire conventions set up for people who collect the plastic dispensers for this small, brick-like candy. But thanks to a flavor lineup that hasn’t changed in the decades that they’ve been offering them up, very few of those rectangles ever actually make it into the candy dispensers. Good luck finding somebody who doesn’t know what PEZ are.
COMPANY: PEZ Company (Austria)
CALORIES: 35 per roll
POPULAR CULTURE: It’s the candy that Vern (Jerry O’Connell) said that he would eat for the rest of his life when pressed by his friends in Stand by Me. The dispensers themselves can be worth as much as $13,000 each, and their value has prompted an underground black market that deals in counterfeits.
Candy Carrot Corn
DESCRIPTION: If you asked somebody to come up with the most quintessential American candies, candy corn would probably make it on the list. This is an Easter-themed spinoff of that with carrot colors instead of the traditional white-and-orange makeup.
COMPANY: Brach’s
CALORIES: 140 (19 pieces)
POPULAR CULTURE: The candy corn flavor is unmistakable, and it’s something that American food companies have worked to capitalize on in recent years. There are now Oreos that are made with the flavor available seasonally, and Hershey’s has made a push towards candy corn crème bars.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg
DESCRIPTION: Think of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup – only bigger. Considering the popularity of Easter candy it’s easy to see why manufacturers like Hershey have jumped on the seasonal bandwagon. Unlike its well-loved cousin, the egg doesn’t have a soft exterior but sports the same peanut butter center.
COMPANY: Hershey
CALORIES: 170
POPULAR CULTURE: The candy is a staple in the Pennsylvania region that makes it, and variations of the same hard-shelled exterior are available in other configurations.
Russell Stover Marshmallow Egg
DESCRIPTION: Some people really like marshmallows. And for them, there is this – a gooey center that’s covered by a thin layer of milk chocolate and made available in the egg pattern that is all the rage this time of year. Some people can’t stand these, and others stockpile when they’re available.
COMPANY: Russell Stover
CALORIES: 110
POPULAR CULTURE: This egg-shaped patty is a larger and more commercially available version of the marshmallow core candies that Russell Stover has been making available in its boxes of mixed chocolates for more than half-a-century. There are few names as big as Russell Stover when it comes to chocolate – it’s the same “box of chocolates” that Forrest Gump carried with him as he was waiting to get on the bus.
Whoppers’ Robin Eggs
DESCRIPTION: Hard-shelled malted chocolate treats that come in cartonesque containers.
COMPANY: Hershey
CALORIES: 180 (8 pieces)
POPULAR CULTURE: You really have to like this type of candy to get behind it. And considering how plentiful this is during the Easter season, plenty of people like it.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.