Twinkie lovers, get ready to go bananas.

The sweet treat known for its golden spongy cake and its creamy vanilla center is returning to its roots with banana-creme filling — the flavor that first made the snack a hit with sweet-toothed people more than 70 years ago.

Old-timers may remember the taste from the pre-World War II years. From 1930, when the Twinkie was first invented, to the 1940s, Twinkies were filled solely with banana creme. But a banana shortage during the war forced Hostess bakers to replace it with the vanilla flavor.

Hostess sells more than half a billion Twinkies each year. Which gives you an idea of how truly self-destructive our species has become.



  1. Clay says:

    Odd, Twinkies have always tasted faintly of banana to me anyway…

  2. hhopper says:

    I’ve never had a Twinkie and I’m not going to start now. I could end up in Twinkies Anonymous.

  3. I must now tune in to cable news so I can watch the pundits scream that Leebrals are forcing Hostess to create a healthy Twinkie.

    “Next on The Factor. . .Hollywood elitist veganazis want to put tofu in your Ding Dong!”

  4. Steph says:

    b-b-banana? that sounds disgusting.

  5. mark says:

    3. As opposed to putting your Ding Dong in tofu.

  6. James Hill says:

    I prefer the prepackaged cup cakes to Twinkies.

  7. Angel H. Wong says:

    Oil soaked sugary bread filled with sweetened shortening..

  8. TVAddict says:

    I have got to look at twinkies to see how much trans-fat is in one of those bad boys. I bet it is out of this world.

    Haven’t had one in years.

  9. Cursor_ says:

    Ah the Twinkie, like Wonder, a symbol of caucasian, middle-class consumerism.

    Both products with as much nutrition as a pillow case and about as much taste as well. Not even banana will save it.

    Cursor_

  10. BubbaRay says:

    Even Rice University has tested Twinkies, including the Turing Test. T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. stands for Tests With Inorganic Noxious Kakes In Extreme Situations. Cheese, now they’ll have to start over. ๐Ÿ™‚

    http://www.twinkiesproject.com/

  11. KVolk says:

    I thought Twinkies were made to feed people after civilization collapsed. That and canned soup since they would last forever.

  12. hhopper says:

    Bubba, that was really hilarious. I read the whole thing. I guess I’m easily entertained.

  13. Jetfire says:

    “Lois, everyone knows there are only two things that can survive a nuclear holocaust — cockroaches and Twinkies. And there’s a Twinkie factory in Natick”
    This is why the world needs twinkies.

  14. John Paradox says:

    T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. stands for Tests With Inorganic Noxious Kakes In Extreme Situations.

    Dang, beat me to it.
    and we also lost Mr. Wizard?
    aren’t these signs of the Apocalypse?

    J/P=?

  15. tallwookie says:

    ick

  16. OmarTheAlien says:

    I doubt Twinkies will be a significant factor in the demise of Humanity.

  17. Milo says:

    BubbaRay: Their methology is inconsistant and their hostility to peer review unprofessional.

  18. BubbaRay says:

    #17, milo, yes, it’s certainly too bad they didn’t consult with me and my 4th grade Science Fair project where I managed to compress a Twinkie into a volume of a little over 1/4 cup (about 62 ml.) Mom wasn’t really happy with my methods using hammer, dowels and wooden disks in her glass kitchenware. ๐Ÿ™‚

  19. joshua says:

    #10…BubbaRay….after much thought (and a twinkie), I came to the conclusion that someone’s parents should demand their money back from Rice!!! ๐Ÿ™‚

    But, I guess we should be glad they weren’t doing something far more harmful…..like drinking beer and chasing co-eds!!

  20. joshua says:

    After going to the CNN story, I’m dumbfounded by the fact that they sell half a BILLION of the little things a year. But as someone above said…I always thought they tasted like banana anyway.

    When growing up, I was never allowed store bought cakes and stuff. Had my first Twinkie when I was 17, my best friend smuggled it into my house. I wasn’t all that impressed, but it wasn’t bad. I won’t tell what my favorite Hostess cake treat is, a person would have to have a death wish to say the name of them in this blog. ๐Ÿ™‚

  21. Uncle Dave says:

    Do they sell a half billion Twinkies or half billion packages (two Twinkies to a package)? The difference means we are only getting half as fat one way vs the other. Inquiring stomaches want to know.

  22. BubbaRay says:

    #21, Uncle Dave, just for fun I looked that up and here’s your answer:

    “There are 17 Hostess bakeries across the countries cranking out 500 million Twinkies every year. It takes 40,000 miles of plastic wrap a year to package them**. At 150 Calories apiece, all those Twinkies have the energy equivalent to nearly 51,500 barrels of crude oil.

    If you want to know, that comes out to be about 1,000 Twinkies a minute or 16 a second.”

    http://www.neatorama.com/2007/03/05/twinkies-fun-facts/

    ** That’s enough plastic wrap to go almost twice around the Earth each year!

  23. The banana twinkies are great, they aren’t available everywhere, but you can always get them online: Banana Twinkies


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