Hostess's Banana-Flavored Twinkies: A Brief History and Review

My co-worker and I had been enjoying a slow day at work and had begun bantering about the trials and frustrations of running a household and keeping up with everything to try and please everyone. After talking about what to make for dinner, she remembered she needed to pick up a few things for the kids' lunches, so she decided she would run out to Wal-Mart during her lunch break to pick up some things. She mentioned that she could only find the small Gatorade bottles there and no other grocery store. She also said they had the Banana Twinkies on sale, - 2 boxes for $5 - and her kids really loved those.

Wait a minute! Banana-flavored Twinkies? I hadn't heard about these. How long had they been around, how could I have missed them? I asked my co-worker to grab a box for me while she was at it.

While she was gone, I decided to look a little further into when this new flavor had emerged without my being aware of it. I found that banana-flavored Twinkies really isn't a new idea from Hostess. According to the CNN website, banana was actually the original flavor of Twinkies in the 1930s when the snack was first introduced. It was during World War II, when a banana shortage in the 1940s brought on the need for the company to replace the banana filling with vanilla-flavored filling.

The year 2006 brought another rendition of the movie 'King Kong' and when its counterpart DVD was released, so was the limited edition banana crème Twinkie. The new banana Twinkies boxes also featured a contest where one could win a trip to Universal Studios in either Hollywood or Florida. Though these light spongy delicacies were intended as a limited edition in the banana flavor, a 20 percent spike in Twinkie sales during the promotional period convinced Hostess to permanently add the flavor to its lineup!

My co-worker arrived back from lunch with box of the banana Twinkies for me in tow. As tempting as it was, I resisted immediately sampling the delicacies as long as I could. They were my sister's favorite when we were young kids in school. Chocoholic that I am, I preferred Ding Dongs or Hostess' chocolate cupcakes with the white swiggly line to Twinkies. Still, I hadn't had a Twinkie in years and wondered if I'd find the banana flavored ones more appealing than the vanilla ones.

Finally, as I drove home that night I could resist no longer. I tore open the box and then the wrapping from one of the little cakes. I took a whiff, but did not pick up on any banana smell. There wasn't much smell at all, in fact. I double-checked the box, it was not overly obvious in design, but, yes, it did say banana filled and there was a little banana character on the cover.

I bit into the little moist cake. At first, I did not taste a thing, but gradually I began to get the mild essence of banana. A second bite verified it. Yes, these were good, and I did prefer them to the regular vanilla ones. I've yet to taste one of the deep-fried Twinkies I've heard about, but given the chance, make mine banana!