The Shelf Life of a Twinkie: Ebay Twinkies

With the great death of Hostess, which slowly bled to death as the Union demanded more and Wall Street played its game, people are buying Twinkies on Ebay from nearly $100 a box. Myself, I'd rather go to Ruths Chris and get a steak, but America is an obese country that loves its junk food. Point proven.

There is a myth that Twinkies have so much preservatives in them that they will last for ages. Not true.

I stumbled upon this bit of useless trivia today.


Myth: Twinkies aren’t baked; the sponge cake instead is made from a chemical reaction that causes a cake-like material to foam up.  It is then colored dark brown at the bottom to give the appearance of being baked.  (Twinkies are in fact baked and their primary ingredients are flour, sugar, and eggs.)

Myth: Twinkies contain a chemical used in embalming fluid which helps account for some of their extreme longevity.  (Twinkies contain no such chemical.)

The truth is the shelf life of your Twinkies you are buying on Ebay is being consumed by a seven day auction period combined with the shipping time combined with the time elapsed since it left the bakery.

In other words, those buying $100 Twinkies on Ebay are going to be disappointed when they learn the 25 day shelf life of a Twinkie has been pretty much spent by the time they receive their auction delights.