Almost Science: Always Infinity vs Peeps

People who follow my often TMI Twitter feed might remember rash of updates comparing the sponginess of Always Infinity pads to marshmallow Peeps, to the delight and disgust of many of my readers.  This only encouraged me, so I decided to cut one open to examine what the miracle “Infinicel” material was like out of the wrapper and to check and see if it really was made up of ground up Peeps.

But what is Infinicel?

From the Always press release –

“In contrast to current cellulose core materials, Infinicel has an  integrated two-layer structure that removes fluid from the top of the pad and transports it into the bottom layer, where it is distributed and stored. This allows the pad to continue absorbing fluid away from the source for a lighter fluid mark on the pad surface.”

Of course, I was not convinced.

For this experiment, I used both “stale” Peeps (Peeps that have been open for at least a week and are chewy) and “fresh” Peeps (Peeps just unwrapped which are softer and squishier).   Stale Peep on the left and a fresh bird on the right.   Note that the Infinicel really does look like the cross section of a stale peep.

Closer look.   Eerily similar, but the pad material is much denser.

One ounce of water with blue food coloring — because red water scares off marketing people, squeamish men, and strict vegans worried about ground up ants found in many red food dyes — was poured on each peep and the pad.

And after twenty-five minutes, the pad was the clear winner.

While hard to see in this picture,  the Infinicel inside really did draw all the water to the bottom of the pad while the top layer remained dry.

The Peeps had the reverse reaction; the outer layer of marshmallow absorbed some of the water but kept the inside of the Peep dry.

Both the stale and the fresh Peeps absorbed minimal fluids, leaving their insides dry.

So is Infinicel made out of ground up Peeps? Probably not.

New theory?

Inside-out Peeps.