April 6th is National Hostess Twinkie Day. To celebrate, let’s look at some fun facts about our favorite snack food:
- The Twinkie snack cake was invented on April 6, 1930, by James Dewar. He was a baker for the Continental Baking Company, in Chicago.
- The original Twinkies were filled with strawberries. These spongy little strawberry shortcakes were sold in a two-pack for only a nickel!
- Back then, strawberries were only in season for six weeks of the year. In a stroke of genius, Dewar decided to start filling the cakes with banana cream so he could sell them year-round.
- While doing business in St. Louis, Dewar saw a billboard that was advertising “Twinkle Toe Shoes”. With a little imagination, he created the name of “Twinkies” that we all know today.
- During WWII, bananas were rationed, so the filling was changed to vanilla.
- About 1,123 Twinkies are produced every minute. Over 500 million are sold per year!
- The Twinkies eaten in the movie Zombieland were not real. Woody Harrelson is a vegan and he refused to eat a Twinkie. So, they had to make him some special ones that were made from cornmeal.
- In 2010, professor Mark Haub went on a “Twinkie diet” for 10 weeks. He ate one Twinkie every three hours, instead of meals. He also munched on chips, cereals and cookies. He lost 27 pounds in two months. His bad cholesterol dropped 20 percent, and his good cholesterol increased by 20 percent. If you’re looking to lose weight and improve your health, is this the diet you’ve been dreaming about for your entire life? . . . lol
