Here's Where The Deep-Fried Twinkie Was Invented
Food trends come and go, and many childhood favorites have become discontinued snack foods, like Hostess Pudding Pies or Smurfberry Crunch cereal. Some snacks, however, are so iconic, that not only do they last generations, but they also evolve and become part of our pop culture lexicon. Enter the Twinkie!
For those who haven't had the pleasure of enjoying a Twinkie, it's a cylinder of yellow sponge cake filled with vanilla cream and it comes individually or in packages of two (via HowStuffWorks). A very popular way to enjoy Twinkies these days is to deep-fry them. While you can find just about anything deep-fried on a stick at the state fair, the deep-fried Twinkie was so popular that Hostess began selling them in the grocery store freezer section in August 2016 (via Today).
Where do deep-fried Twinkies come from? You might think that they were invented at one state fair or another, but that's not the case at all.
Twinkie history
According to Insider, the Twinkie was created in Schiller Park, Illinois by a baker named Jimmy Dewar in 1930. The story goes that he was trying to come up with uses for his strawberry shortcake-making equipment when the spring crop wasn't in season. He made some shortcake fingers and filled them with banana cream and soon after, Twinkies were a thing.
Dewar changed the filling to vanilla cream because of a banana shortage during World War II. Production of the Twinkie stopped in November 2012 when the parent company, Hostess Brands, ran into financial trouble and filed for bankruptcy for the second time.
The prospect of a world without Twinkies freaked some people out. Individuals started hoarding what was still left on store shelves. Thanks to a few passionate investors, Hostess was saved and reorganized, and Twinkie production resumed in July 2013, and there was much rejoicing (yaaaaay!).
Deep-fried Twinkie origins
The original deep-fried Twinkie appeared in Brooklyn in the early 2000s (via ABC News). A British restaurant owner named Christopher Sell started deep-frying everything from Oreos to pickles, including Twinkies, at his restaurant, the Chip Shop. The Brooklyn Heights restaurant made it so popular that food vendors at state fairs all over the country picked up on the trend and deep-fried Twinkies became the fair food staple we know and love today.
Because of the continued growing popularity, Hostess decided to sell deep-fried Twinkies in grocery stores. Shoppers are able to find them in the frozen section.
While regular Twinkies can be found in many different flavors, some of which are seasonal releases like pumpkin spice, the deep-fried versions come in the traditional vanilla flavor, as well as chocolate (via Today). Now you don't have to wait for the state fair to indulge your cravings for your favorite deep-fried food on a stick!