Inside A Twinkie
I remember many sweet treats from my childhood that I no longer eat because they will make me fat and raise my cholesterol. I'm thinking of Yodels, Ding-Dongs and Twinkies.
Twinkies' combination of sugary cream and yellow cake was irresistible with a glass of milk after school. So I was intrigued to read about a new book that details the making of the Twinkie and where its 39 (!) ingredients come from.
In Twinkie , Deconstructed, author Steve Ettlinger unravels why the Twinkie contains so few traditional baking ingredients, like eggs or milk, and so many industrial-sounding chemicals, like polysorbate 60 (used instead of cream and eggs) and diacetyl (tastes like butter).
With such pleasant associations of Twinkies and my youth, I have often been tempted to buy them for my kids as I pass the shelf in Publix. I have not yet picked up a box, and knowing more now about what's inside my former favorite snack cake, I'm glad I resisted the urge.
