Twelve Twinkie Facts

Another fun treat around Easter or anytime of year is Twinkies. Here are some facts that might surprise you.

Twinkies were first thought up by James A. Dewar, Vice President of Continental Bakeries, which sold the Hostess brand. Dewar was trying to come up with a way to utilize the machines used to make cream filled strawberry shortcake when strawberries were out of season and the machines normally sat idle.

The name Twinkies was also thought up by James Dewar. On the way to a marketing meeting, he saw a billboard advertising “Twinkle-Toes Shoes” and came up with the name Twinkies.

Exploding the common belief that Twinkies can last forever, Twinkies are only good for about 25 days.

According to Hostess, it takes about 45 seconds to explode a Twinkie in a standard microwave.

Twinkies were originally filled with banana cream, hence the coloring and shape. During WWII, bananas became scarce, so they switched to vanilla cream. After the war they didn’t switch back because people liked the vanilla cream better.

In 2006, Hostess briefly brought back a banana filled Twinkie as part of a promotion for the release of King Kong on DVD.

During the 1980s, Hostess introduced a strawberry cream filled Twinkie, but it was not successful.

Among the artificial ingredients in Twinkies is cellulose gum, which gives Twinkie cream its smooth feel.

Another ingredient in Twinkies is corn dextrin. This gives Twinkies their sticky crust.

Of the 39 ingredients that make up a Twinkie, only one of them is strictly a preservative. Some of the other chemicals in Twinkies have preserving side effects, but their use is primarily as substitutes for dairy ingredients.

Despite their the 150 calories each, Hostess made more than 500 million per year.

Twinkies are made by baking the Twinkie for 12 minutes; injecting it with cream; and flipping it over so the round bottom becomes the top. Hopefully Twinkies will be back on store shelves soon.