The Protean Twinkie - April 7, 2009

(Editor's Note: We originally ran this piece in April of 2006 but realized that, hey, it's about Twinkies; if anything will still be fresh after three years, it's Twinkies.) Snack food lovers, rejoice! Today the venerable Hostess Twinkie turns 79 years old. In the junk food world, though, the much-disparaged sponge cake treat is but a toddler. The pretzel dates back to at least 610. The donut? A respected veteran from 1809. Even the Johnny-come-lately potato chip goes back to 1853. What it lacks in age, the Twinkie makes up for with its flexibility. It's a snack cake useful for everything from art projects and sushi creations to stopping super-villains. Whether deep-fried, frozen, or even used in a wedding cake, the Twinkie is truly remarkable. The only unsolved mystery about the Twinkie, ultimately, is how long they'll last. Some say less than a month, but in the back of our minds, we wonder if there are any original cream-filled delights from the Depression Era, still sitting on a dusty shelf somewhere, as fresh as the day they were made. Suggested Sites... Hostess Twinkies - home of the snack treat, with games, history, and recipes. Seanbaby's Hostess Page - a gallery of superheroes defeating dastardly schemes -- with the help of baked snack cakes and pies. The T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project - archive of research conducted in 1995 to determine the scientific properties of the Twinkie. Wikipedia: Twinkie - history of America's most famous sponge cake. Twinkies at 75 - "munch 'em, fry 'em, save 'em for years."