The poster child for junk food

March 13, 2009

What can I say that hasn't been said? These little snack cakes are the definition of junk food. They are so hard not to love. And 500 million of them are sold each year.

How do Twinkies stay moist for such a long period of time? Regular baked goods go stale after 1 day out of the oven, that is why grocery stores have bakeries that put out fresh bread and cookies every day.

But, not Twinkies! The expiration date on the ones I purchased for this photo were a good 2 weeks away. How does Hostess do that?

The manufacturing process that goes into making a Twinkie is kind of amazing. Steve Ettlinger wrote . Basically, they break down all the stuff that would ordinarily go into a baked good, such as eggs, butter, and sugar into components.

These components ensure that the Twinkie will remain "shelf stable" (not go stale) for 2 weeks.

President Clinton put Twinkies in a time capsule - I bet they are still expecting them to be fresh 100 years from now when they open that baby up.

Twinkies are empty calories, from a nutrition perspective. Hostess has taken all the nutrition out of the Twinkie to ensure freshness. I say avoid these empty calories, and eat a baked good that has been made with real butter, eggs, and sugar.