![]() ![]() "And very well that vacuum may have halted the fungus's ability to continue to grow. They noticed that the wrapping on the mummified Twinkie seemed to be sucked inward, suggesting that the fungus got in before the package was sealed and, while the fungus was consuming the Twinkie, it was using up more air or oxygen than it was putting out. That was the year the company was reported to be going belly up, so I'd rushed out and bought a box for future giggles." On Twitter, Purrington wrote, "You might be curious why I had Twinkies from 2012 in my basement. One of the Twinkies from the 2012 box had collapsed into a shriveled mass. ![]() I really want to know what species exactly was eating my Twinkies." "If someone can take this and figure out what was actually growing, I'm all in. "Science is a collaborative sport," he says. They reached out to Purrington, who was only too happy to mail them the Twinkies immediately. Plus, the reddish blotch on one Twinkie seemed to have a growth pattern that's typical of fungi. The researchers immediately thought some kind of fungus was involved in attacking the 8-year-old Twinkies, because they've studied fungi that kill insects and dry them out in a similar way. "You find fungi growing on jet fuel," he says. Still, Kasson says, fungi are everywhere and have an amazing set of chemical tools that let them break down all kinds of substances. "The food industry has crafted the ability to make foods that have a long shelf life." "In a way, they are kind of like an extreme environment, right?" Kasson notes. Fungi actually found it difficult to survive on Peeps, because of the food's low water content. That's because, in the past, their lab has tested how well molds grow in Peeps, the classic Easter treat. "Matt is going to want that Twinkie," thought Lovett, the instant he saw the mummified one. Purrington compared the cross section and filling of a Twinkie from 2012 (left) with one from this year. The other Twinkie was completely transformed - it was gray, shrunken and wrinkly, like a dried morel mushroom. One had a dark-colored blemish the size of a quarter. That's when he examined the other Twinkies. "It tasted like old sock," Purrington says. He removed a Twinkie from the box, unwrapped it - it looked fine - and took a bite. Like many people, Purrington believed Twinkies are basically immortal, although the official shelf life is 45 days. "It's terrible, but it just is mind-numbing after a while." He busted out the Twinkies now, instead of waiting a couple more years, in part because he was "just so bored, with the pandemic," Purrington says. "When there's no desserts in the house, you get desperate," says Purrington, who went down to the basement and retrieved the old box of snack cakes, fully intending to enjoy several. He'd purchased them back in 2012 for sentimental reasons when he heard that Hostess Brands was going bankrupt and Twinkies might disappear forever. Last week, craving sweets, Colin Purrington remembered the Twinkies. Varying levels of mold had developed on the snack cakes, and he eventually sent them to two West Virginia University scientists to study the kind of fungus growing on them. For eight years, a box of Twinkies sat in Colin Purrington's basement until last week when he finally opened them. ![]()
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