Developing a Close Personal Relationship with a Twinkie/Peanut

Twinkosuction
Developing a deep personal relationship with a Twinkie
John Cafarella
Your Basic Twinkie
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Introduction: What uses 8 million pounds of sugar, 7 million pounds of
flour, and 1 million eggs a year?
If you guessed 500 million Twinkies, you win a Devil Dog!
Twinkies were invented by Jimmy Dewar in the 1930’s, and the mini-sponge
cake quickly became a phenomenon in lunchboxes across the country--and
they were boxes back then.
Hostess Twinkies were a fact of life for students: a school lunch was not
complete without the golden brown, cream-filled confection.
Open up the thin cellophane wrapper and lo-and-behold: the lemony scent
overwhelmed the feaster, immersing him/her in gastronomical heaven.
Who, other than teachers and parents didn’t anticipate that boost of sugar
during the noon hour?
Today, the Twinkie continues to inspire those of a gourmet nature as
evidenced by the creations of Twinkie Misu, Twinkie Sushi and the
infamousTwinkie Wedding Cake
John Cafarella
Anatomy of a Twinkie
Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour Ferrous Sulfate)
“B” Vitamins (Niacin, Thiamine, Mononitrate, B2, Folic Acid)
Sugar
Corn Syrup
High Fructose corn Syrup,
Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Shortening
(Contains one or more of: Soybean, canola or palm oil)
Dextrose,
Whole Eggs
Contains 2% or less of: Modified Corn Starch, Cellulose Gum, Whey, Leavenings (Sodium Acid Pyrophospate, Baking
Soda, Monocalcium Phosphate)
Salt
Cornstarch
Corn flour
Corn dextrins
Mono and diglycerides
May ???????? Contain
Polysorbate 60
peanuts??????
Soy lecithin
Natural and Artificial flavors
Even Twinkie makers
Soy protein isolate
don’t know what’s in it
Soium Stearoyl Lactylate
Sodium and calcium caseinate
Calcium sulfate
Sorbic acid (to retain freshness)
Color added (Yellow 5, red 40)
May contain peanuts or traces of peanuts.
John Cafarella
A Twinkie Task
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Think of Five Ways to Measure a Twinkie
John Cafarella
A Twinkie Mystery
Whither goest the “white stuff” in John’s
Twinkie.
 What caused it to “goest”?
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John Cafarella
Measurement of non-standard items
What tools will we need to measure the length of the twinkie?
Width?
Diameter?
Weight?
What steps must we take in the procedure?
Ancient Twinkie
Current Twinkie
John Cafarella
Aging Twinkie
Why did this happen occur?
How can we identify the gas?
John Cafarella
This is Desiccated to the One I Love – Heat and Cold Treated
Twinkie (Ancient Twinkie)
White Stuff is Gone !!!!!
John Cafarella
A Twinkectomy
Ancient Twinkie
Contemporary Twinkie
Compare and Contrast
John Cafarella
How can we determine how
Much “white stuff is in a twinkie
What percentage of the twinkie
Is “white stuff”?
What is the density of the “white
Stuff”?
How can we measure it?
Twinkosuction
John Cafarella
Performing a Twinksplant from current Twinkie to Contemporary Twinkie
John Cafarella
The cat preferred the Ancient
Twinkie to the current Twinkie
Note: No animals were
harmed during this experiment
John Cafarella
Contemporary Twinkie
Ancient
Twinkie
Construct a Venn Diagram
John Cafarella
Ancient Twinkie
Note white stuff turning into sludge
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Ancient Twinkie
White stuff not doing well
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Twinkies and Slime
Preparation for Slime Reaction
John Cafarella
Twinkies and Slime (Boric acid, polyvinyl alcohol, food coloring
John Cafarella
John Cafarella
One Hour Later Describe the
effects of slime on a Twinkie
John Cafarella
The ugly aftermath – the importance of
cleaning up
John Cafarella
Shape of the Twinkie*
Gr. 7-12
 Distribution of brown golden sponge cake vs. white cream
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Density using a large graduated cylinder—water displacement,
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or crude
length, width, depth measurements (vol. about 150 ml, after bending, about
2 ml)
Somewhat more destructive tests:
Mass : weighing whole; brown stuff and white stuff
Volume: assuming Twinkie is a cylinder: hpi(r2)
: estimate the volume of the white cream
Density of gases: mass Twinkie and cellophane, and take volume, remove
cellophane and mass, and take/measure volume again; density about .3
g/ml; mass about 43 g
Compressibility: take volume, then liquify in a blender (add 100 ml water)—
estimate on what % volume is gas; about 2 ml is recovered as “Twinkie”
Dissection: draw
More physical characteristics:
Malleable, Brittle (crush with hammer)
Ductile?
Conductive ? yes, slightly; dried ones don’t conduct
John Cafarella
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Solubility test: weigh whole and part
: put in water, stir. Soluble?
: heat water to 100 filter, dry and weigh suspended material; unable to filter
: in oil (polar, non-polar), solubility improve with increasing T
Note long term effects of Twinkie placed in water coffee maker carafe….Turn
coffee make on.
Note changes over time.
Radiation test: put in a microwave, physical or chemical change?
Elasticity: how high does it bounce? Compared to a cell phone—anyone want to
volunteer—hah, hah; drop from a height of 5 feet; use meter stick to measure;
no bounce.
Adsorptivity: measure volume, then put in a beaker of water, oil other solvent?
Alcohol? Measure new volume ; Qualtiative and Qunatitative measurements.
Adhesion: sticks to ceiling (white part up) for 13 seconds
Dissection: Use ½ of Twinkie to dissect : Draw a sketch
Chemical:
Combustibility/Oxidation test: burn over a BB. It burns producing a black
substance—carbon. The white stuff becomes more liquefied, doesn’t burn.
Soluble? Black stuff floats on water.
Reaction to acid (weak) vinegar: none
Reaction to HCl : none // pH-control--neutral
Twinkie Destruction
Gr. 7-12
John Cafarella
And Now…..
Can of SPAM
John Cafarella
John Cafarella
John Cafarella
Spamatzoa – the unknown substances in spam
Spamatazoa
Remove spamatazoa
Identify composition of spamatazoa
Measure
Density?
% of spam?
List tools and steps in the procedure
Spamatazoa
John Cafarella
A World First!!!!!!!
John Cafarella