(via NYTimes.com)
Looking Inside the Twinkie
The news that the food maker Hostess filed for bankruptcy protection has triggered a national discussion of its products, including Wonder bread, Ho Hos and that nostalgic lunchbox favorite, the Twinkie. I recently spoke with the food writer Steve Ettlinger, author of the book “Twinkie, Deconstructed,” about the ingredients that go into a Twinkie, why it matters and what happens when you try to make one at home. Here’s our conversation:
Q. So what does the story of the Twinkie tell us about processed foods in the United States?
A. It tells us that processed foods are part of a very serious industrial complex. I call it the Twinkie Industrial Complex.
Processed food ingredients are made in large parts from the most common industrial chemicals, like phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid and ethylene, which comes from natural gas. That, for me, is sobering. I’m not saying„ “Oh, shocker, we rely on petroleum for our food.” Petroleum is needed to transport locally produced organic food too. Petroleum is used for transportation, for pesticides and herbicides, for processing.
One thing I noticed in my travels is there are certain food processing hubs in the Midwest where these large plants that process beans and seeds are located. The power needed to run these things is extraordinary. That was very unfoodlike, in my mind, and really surprised me.
Q. In the book, you write about visiting a plant that mines phosphorus, an ingredient used in explosives, matches and artillery shells. Why is it used in a Twinkie?
A. Phosphoric acid is a fairly common food processing ingredient. It’s also used in cheese processing. It is used in a dry form, ultimately, to make the acidic part of baking powder, which is why I was looking at it. The elementary phosphorus I saw being made was destined to be turned into phosphoric acid. It was being mined in Idaho and sent to a plant in the Midwest, where’s it’s stored in a giant spherical tank because it’s dangerous. It’s odd to see this kind of scale and chemistry and think, ‘Wow, that would be a really great ingredient in a little yellow snack cake.”
Q. How many different types of rocks are used to make a Twinkie?
A. Five, if you count salt. Gypsum, trona, limestone and phosphorus ore, but a geologist might take issue with calling phosphorus ore a rock. You can argue that over beers.
Q. What’s in the white filling of a Twinkie?
A. I asked a Twinkie employee I cornered at the exit of the plant. He smiled and said, “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.” It seems that the “cream” is probably partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. I think the key ingredient is polysorbate 60, and possibly cellulose gum. The filling has to be of a consistency that works well in the pumps and tubes that make these things. On the label they call it a “creamy filling.” They don’t actually say what it is.
