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Top 10 Untold Truths Of Twinkies
When was the last time you bit into a pillowy, sweet Twinkie? Did it taste just as you remembered? Was it everything it was when you were a child? Or are you now questioning what all the excitement was about? Well let’s take a look at the top 10 untold truths about Twinkies.
10. Original Banana Filling
When Twinkies first made their debut in the 30s the sweet treat was made a bit differently. The now loved vanilla cream used to be a banana cream filling. To make it even more decadent, the filling was made with real bananas and real cream. Mmm, can you imagine how wonderful that would taste today? Obviously, this didn’t last long. In the 30s bananas were rationed due to World War II so, it was hard for the company to keep up with the demand. This forced them to turn to vanilla cream and well the rest is history from there. We can only imagine that back in the 30s there were not a lot of tasty treats to choose from. We are also almost positive that not a lot of people could afford sweet treats and delicacy. This certainly didn’t help the brand. It kind of sucks knowing that so many of our treats today are not fresh and innocent. We are consuming a lot of chemicals that are completely screwing with our bodies. Twinkies just decided to do without one ingredient in order to keep their dessert fresh and edible. Where is that determination today?
9. So Many Specialty Flavors
Since bananas had to be rationed Twinkies had to stick to the basics in order to keep their brand afloat. But, they have more than made up for it over the years. Every once in a while they make a specialty flavor that flies off the shelves. It’s almost like a thank you to their fans for sticking around for so long. In the summer of 2014, Hostess came out with 3 summer flavors; Blue Raspberry, Strawberry Cream, and Banana Chocolate. They sold like crazy. Another reason why they probably sold so well was that Hostess partnered with Marvel for the release of X-Men: Day Of Future Past. This partnership allowed them to sell boxes of Twinkies with X-Men characters on them. This isn’t the first time that the brand made an attempt at flavored Twinkies. Back in 2007, Hostess released their original banana cream flavor in conjunction with the release of King Kong. They saw a spike in sales. However, if you were expecting to taste that original banana cream with the real bananas and real cream guess again. It was as fake as they come. Yet, no one really complained. They were probably just excited to have a Twinkie that wasn’t the same old thing. The latest special flavor they had was Lime. It was released in conjunction with the Ghostbusters film and it featured a green cream.
8. “The Twinkies Law”
Yes, there is a real law around the snack food. It came about in the 80s when a man named George “Frenchy” Belair was running for Minneapolis City Council. He held a campaign rally and like everyone else would, offering refreshments like Kool-Aid and treats like Ho-Ho’s, cookies, donuts, and Twinkies. Only, some people saw this as bribery and he was indicted for the crime. This, thankfully, did not stand up in court the charges were dropped. However, this ridiculous event forced Minnesota to take steps so something like this would not happen again. They created a new law conveniently titled “The Twinkie Law”. It was reported by The New York Post that the entire table of refreshments cost $34.14 so, really, hardly anything to be upset about. We happen to believe that people were mainly upset because the rally was geared towards older people. The elderly. Maybe they felt as though they were being scammed or taken advantage of for their vote by Belair. Either way, what other snack food can say that they have a law associated with them? Keep in mind this took place in the 80s, 1985 to be exact. So society was a lot more sensitive and a lot less willing to put up with people’s crap.
7. Production Was Different
Twinkies were so delicate that they had to be filled by hand when they were first created. This shouldn’t be a surprise seeing as they were created in the 30s. There was clearly a lack of machinery and advancements. Today they are made with automated machines. But, back in the day when they were still fresh and tasty AF they were made with a super delicate machine. Bakery workers used a machine that was manual and each cake got filled with a device that was activated by pedals. A former “Twinkie stuffer” named Margaret Branco told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that the machine was so sensitive that if you didn’t hit the pedal just right it would go haywire. Of course, this wasn’t all bad she admitted that one of the fringe benefits of having a machine get a little out of control was an overstuffed and not so perfect looking Twinkie. The Twinkie stuffers were able to eat the ones that came out looking like complete crap. If we worked there, for sure we would “accidentally” ruin more Twinkies just for the added benefit of eating it. However, we also assume that we would put on a lot of weight. Think about it; a cake shell, real cream, and real bananas the calorie count is sure to be more than one should take in each day.
6. They Had A Real Number One Fan
Before Lewis Browning’s death in 2007 at the age of 90, he was considered a superfan of Twinkies. He was a milk truck driver for most of his life and his one indulgence was Twinkies. He ate one Twinkie a day (sometimes more). His streak was so impressive because his ritual dated all the back to 1941. It was calculated that he ate over 22,000 Twinkies in his lifetime. That is a commitment for sure. So, what does dedication like this get you? Browning was given not only a lifetime supply of Twinkies. He also received a little bit of fame for his love of the snack food. He was interviewed by Jay Leno for The Tonight Show and he became a name that a good chunk of people knew about. That is more than most people can say. One thing we can say we learned from Browning was that there is no harm in indulging a bit. He died at the age of 90 and that’s after eating one of more Twinkies a day. Who else has done that? This just goes to show you that everything in moderation is a real concept. We wonder at what age he received that lifetime supply? Do you think he got to abuse it enough? We sure hope so.
5. Zombieland Had Fake Twinkies
One of the main concepts of the wildly popular 2009 film Zombieland was that Woody Harrelson’s character Tallahassee was on a quest to find Twinkies. You see, he too had believed that Twinkies had no shelf life and he was just craving so bad for one of these snack cakes. He would frantically search abandon stores and homes for any sign of a Twinkie. When they do finally find some there is a whole scene of him eating and enjoying this long-awaited treasure. Only, the Twinkies in this film were nowhere near real. Harrelson is a vegan he eats no sugar and no dairy. So, whatever they were chomping into was not an authentic Twinkie. This may seem ridiculous seeing as his character spends so much time being obsessed with this mission. And, yes, they certainly looked like the real things and we are sure that Twinkie was loving the product placement in this film. That being said, it almost seems like a waste not having the real thing. But, we get it. Being vegan doesn’t change because you took on a film role and it was dope of production to accommodate their star. We, on the other hand, would opt for the real thing.
4. Their Ingredients Are Cause For Alarm
Twinkies contain anywhere between 37-39 ingredients. However, and here is the sketchy part, only 5 of them are recognizable. Flour, eggs, water, sugar, and salt are those 5 recognizable ingredients. The rest are hydrogenated vegetable fats, hydrogenated vegetable fats, high fructose corn syrup (and 4 other types of sugar!) and of course, artificial colors. There are also things in them that should not exist at all like sodium stearate, which is the common ingredient in soap. Also, the cream isn’t real cream at all it’s shortening. We can see how the company was able to extend that shelf life. To top off this craziness, Twinkies are manufactured with 14 of the top twenty chemicals made in the United States. If this isn’t enough evidence to get people to stop eating snack foods like this then we all deserve whatever we get. We can only imagine what other Hostess products are filled with complete garbage that we are blindly consuming. Do you ever wonder why you feel totally messed up after eating one too many Twinkies? This could be the reason why. Human beings well, no being really should be eating anything with these many fake ingredients in it.
3. 40-Year-old Twinkie
The World’s oldest Twinkie is 40 years old. In the 70s a chemistry teacher thought it would be a good idea to basically see how long a Twinkie could last. Roger Bennatti left a Twinkie sitting on his chalkboard in an effort to understand the process of rotting food. According to Bangor Daily News, the Twinkie sat there for 30 years. When the teacher retired, the now 42 years old Twinkie was moved to a chilled glass case and it being held at the George Stevens Academy in Maine. We have to wonder how hard it was for Bennatti to not munch on this snack when he was feeling peckish. The Twinkie now looks dehydrated and no longer holds that fluffy shape that we are all used to. It looks like a piece of fried chicken skin which in normal circumstances would be tasty and appetizing to look at. But, when we know it’s actually a Twinkie, well, we are having a hard time stomaching the idea. If anything this little experiment should be putting people off of all these snack foods that they so quickly put in their mouths or give to their children as a treat at school. Is anyone else’s stomach turning upside down?
2. There Is A Twinkies Cookbook
Yes, there is a cookbook that is dedicated to Twinkies. Right off the bat, we have to ask, “how many ways can one person make/eat a Twinkie?” the only other way we know of is deep fried thanks to state fairs. Apparently, this cookbook is a combination of a history lesson and a few “inventive” recipes. Released in 2015, some of the recipes that were included in the book were Twinkie S’mores. This is basically a s’more with a piece of Twinkie added to it. They had recipes for deep-fried, bacon-wrapped and chocolate-covered Twinkies. There is a Twinkie bomb that looks something like a swiss roll, a Twinkie sandwich which is a literal savory sandwich that was between a sliced Twinkie, Twinkie Carrot cake cookies and even Twinkie corn dogs with a cornmeal batter. The book has 50 recipes all Twinkie-related. We can’t vouch for all of them because truthfully, some of them sound and look disgusting but we can certainly get behind the idea of this cookbook. It was made to celebrate Twinkies 85th year so why not have a few out there recipes that probably no one would make? There is no fun in a cookbook if everything is predictable and bland. Okay, we have to admit a bacon-wrapped Twinkie does sound pretty amazing.
1. They Don’t Last Forever
Contrary to popular belief, Twinkies do not last forever. There has been a rumor floating around for almost as long as the sweet treat has been around. The rumor says that Twinkies never expire they literally have no shelf life. This is obviously not true and now it has been proven. But before we get into that. Let’s look at where some of these rumors have come from. Most people know of this due to popular culture reference. Like that episode of The Simpsons that had fans believing that old Twinkies could get them a little drunk. The truth is, Twinkies had a shelf life of 26 days. Which is kind of crazy when you think about it were they even selling fast enough to have such a shelf life? Then the brand went out of business for a while. When they reappeared in 2013, they were able to extend their shelf life to 45 days. If you are one of those people who live for a good urban legend that we can only assume that you have Twinkies stockpiled. Just waiting for that day when the world ends and you can gorge on all of those cream-filled cakes. Now that you know all this about the infamous Twinkie, we have to ask, are you willing to still consume one?