One of the best snack-based urban legends of the ’90s—right up there with Pop Rocks being deadly when combined with Coke—was the enduring rumor that Twinkies have a shelf life of over 100 years.
Like most urband legends, this is a huge exaggeration: Officially, Twinkies remain safe to eat for about 26 days—long for something that is supposedly “cream-filled,” but nowhere near what was rumored. Nonetheless, it was considered fact in the ’90s, and remarkably had little effect on the product’s sales. The cake was indestructible, as was our desire to consume them.
The company, however, may not be. According to the Wall Street Journal, sources close to Hostess claim the maker of the eternal Twinkie is preparing to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Sources state that Hostess, employer of about 19,000, is feeling the pinch of “high labor costs and rising prices for sugar, flour and other ingredients, according to people familiar with the matter.” Due to the various pressures, Hostess owes upwards of $50 million to various vendors.
It’s hard to say what will become of the mini tubular cake maker. “Hostess’s filing would mark what is known as a Chapter 22 proceeding in restructuring circles, since the company had already sought bankruptcy protection once before,” writes WSJ.
Hostess may, after 82 years, shut its doors and stop producing Ho Ho’s, Fruit Pies, Ding Dongs and Twinkies, along with the rest of their baked goods. If this happens it’ll be hard not to feel like it’s the end of an era. As the prototypical cheap, abundant and delicious food, Twinkies are a classic symbol of Americana arguably as important as the Big Mac—and that’s saying something.
In Honor of Twinkie, here are some factoids published by Urban Myths in 2010 regarding the treat:
• 500 million: The number of Twinkies baked each year.
• 10: The minutes it takes to bake a Twinkie.
• 1930: The year James Dewar invented the two-for-a-nickel treat.
• 150: The number of calories in one Twinkie.
• 50: The number of recipes in the Twinkies Cookbook.
• 7: The number of Twinkies needed to make the “Patriotic Twinkie Pie” recipe in the Twinkies Cookbook.
• 1: The rank of New Orleans in terms of per capita Twinkie consumption compared to other cities in the U.S.
• 1999: The year President Bill Clinton included Twinkies in the millennium time capsule.
• 26 days: The shelf life of a Twinkie.
