A shout out to all the Peeps, and the peeps who eat 'em.(News)

Byline: Burt Constable

While not the first Jewish family with Bethlehem roots to play a vital role in Easter, the Born family certainly can't be ignored.

Their Just Born candy factory in Bethlehem, Pa., will sell 600 million of those cute, fluffy, sugary, chick-shape Marshmallow Peeps this Easter, says John Kerr, group product manager at Just Born.

That's more than two chicks for every man, woman and child in the United States.

"The brand has been such a symbol," Kerr says. "It really has kind of an icon status."

And a devoted, often demented, flock of faithful fans.

The Internet is full of Web sites devoted to all things Peep.

The official Just Born "Peepsville" Web site tells the fascinating history of the company and doles out odd facts such as how the first Peeps (invented in 1953) each took 27 hours to produce. A candy maker had to squeeze each individual chick from a pastry tube and then hand-paint the eyes.

Today, high-tech machines pop out a Peep every six minutes. The Just Born factory cranks out 3.8 million marshmallow treats a day. You can tour the factory online at www.marshmallowpeeps.com.

But if you mistakenly type in www.marshmallowpeeps.org, you'll be transported to Tracy and Mia's Peep-O-Rama Web site, which makes an art of Peeps. The site includes Peeps-related artwork, ranging from a painting of the "The Four Peeps of the Apocalypse" to a photograph of four Peeps posed around a table playing a miniature card game to a photo of a pair of punk Peeps sporting pierced bills.

For a more scientific peek at Peeps, pop onto the Web site www.learnlink.emory.edu/peep, where Emory University scientists James Zimring and Gary Falcon conduct a battery of experiments designed to test the Peeps' reaction to dangers such as alcohol, smoking and microwaves, where the poor Peeps pump up like provoked pufferfish.

Plenty of amateurs conduct experiments with Peeps, including the young man who claims that the only safe way to dispose of Peeps is to boil each chick in a vat of Mountain Dew.

But when it comes to Peeps disposal, Dennis "The King" Gross is a one-man Peepinator. He downed a record 88 chicks in 30 minutes while winning last year's Peep 2-K Peeps-eating competition.

"He actually went and got a pizza after eating 88 Peeps just because he's crazy," says Dave Smith, organizer and self-proclaimed Archbishop of the annual Peep-Off in Sacramento, Calif. (For details, see www.nokilli.com/food/peep2001.htm.)

The Gross appetite for destruction has Peep-Off fans thinking this could be the year when the 100-Peeps barrier falls.

The fifth-annual Peep-Off (dubbed "2001: A Peep Odyssey Peep- ageddon") is scheduled for April 28, after Easter, which allows Smith to buy the Peeps cheap.

"I buy them after Easter so I can get 2,000 for 40 or 50 bucks," Smith says, noting the Peeps keep until next year (perhaps next decade) if necessary.

Last year, the cops set up barricades at the Peep-Off, which thrilled the participants (mostly geeks and egghead types), Smith says, adding that many of the contestants do wash down their Peeps with Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and stage a Peeps fight at the end.

The Pabst-Peeps combo has been known to literally bring competitors to their knees. (For the record, Gross downs them with Diet Pepsi and you don't hear, or see, a Peep out of him.)

For a much more tasteful take on Peeps, marthastewart.com features a lovely recipe for do-it-yourself marshmallow chicks. All you need is a rimmed baking sheet, a piping kit, a pastry bag, turbinado sugar, luster dust, a No. 1 icing tip, a parchment-lined airtight container and a personality wound so tightly that you'd think this would be a good use of your time.

For the record, the Just Born folks prefer you buy your Peeps and eat them at a safe moderate pace or use them for decorating. But they understand that their treat inspires dozens of Web sites (I didn't even mention the Peeps Show parody porn site with "hot chicks" or the one hosted by a drag queen who fashions outfits from Peeps).

"To a certain degree we're flattered that people are so enamored with Peeps," Kerr says. "Peeps is a brand that's very unique and fun and whimsical. Plus, it's candy. How can you not have a sense of humor about candy?"