I was never a fan of the Twinkie. Not sure I've ever eaten one, in fact. Chocolate Ho-Hos and Ding-Dongs were more my speed while growing up, when a box of saran-wrapped sweets was no stranger to my kitchen cupboard. I'll never forget Twinkies, though, with all the speculation about how long they can live on a shelf without spoiling. What's in those things, anyway? The crew over at
Discover magazine knows, after taking a peek at the book
Twinkie, Deconstructed.
Packed into the Twinkie is something called cellulose gum. The stuff can absorb 15 to 20 times its own weight in water, and a pinch sprinkled on water floats like a jellyfish. "A moistened spoonful becomes a clear, gelatinous, slimy glob in a matter of minutes," says
this Discover article.
Cellulose -- the word just makes me think
cellu-lite -- interestingly replaces fat with a fatlike texture, without adding a single calorie to the cake. Cellulose gum is not digested, you see, and merely helps hold a flavor on your tongue. It also helps the Twinkie filling shine. There's also artificial butter (the kind you find on movie popcorn) in your Twinkie. And some other stuff too. But you'll need a copy of the book for the entire scoop.
I will tell you, though, that Calorie King calculates that one tantalizing Twinkie contains 150 calories and 4.5 g of fat (2.5 g are saturated but none are from the trans fat family). It also boasts 20 mg cholesterol, 220 mg sodium, 19 g sugar, 1 g protein and even 20 mg calcium.
Does all this Twinkie talk make you want one? Not me. No Ho-Hos or Ding-Dongs either, thanks.