I came across an article in Newsweek magazine and thought you might get a laugh like I did. Anne Underwood wrote a hilarious and frightening article about this frequently eaten junk food.
She tells us that aside from actual flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, water, and a trace of egg, the remaining 39 ingredients are not generally what you’d find in your pantry. For example:
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The filling contains shortening (in the form of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and/or beef fat) as the main ingredient. Polysorbate 60 is a gooey substance that helps replace cream and eggs at a fraction of the cost. It’s derived from corn, palm oil, and petroleum. Cellulose gum gives the crème filling a smooth slippery feel. Artificial vanillin is synthesized in petrochemical plants. The real thing comes from finicky tropical orchids that are pollinated by hand on the day they bloom.
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The cake contains lecithin, an emulsifier made from soy. It’s also used in paint to keep pigments evenly dispersed. Diacetyl mimics the taste of butter, since the real stuff would go rancid too quickly on the store shelf. Cornstarch is a common thickener. Its more common use is in the manufacture of cardboard and packing peanuts. Yellow No. 5, and Red No. 40 give the cake the golden look of eggs. Sorbic acid, the only actual preservative in Twinkies, comes from petroleum.
