I found a box of @Hostess_Snacks Twinkies from 2012 in my basement and I thought I'd make a short thread. There were some surprises.
2. The Twinkie from 2012 is on the left. It seems to have settled a bit over the years and looked dry. The biggest difference is that the cream filling has browned and constricted a bit, leaving air gaps.
3. Although I grew up thinking Twinkies would last for years, if not forever, I was wrong. The one I bit into was chewy, unsweet, and smelled like rotting ginkgo fruit. I gagged. I have nobody to blame but myself — the box clearly warned, "Best Used by Nov 26th" (2012).
4. I didn't try this Twinkie because it's hosting an organism of some sort. I guess it could be dead but that's not something I'm going to risk. I've seen that movie before. Maybe somebody on @inaturalist will recognize it. Here's link in case that's you: inaturalist.org/observations/6….
5. I promised there was a surprise and this is it: one of the Twinkies had shriveled into a small log, sucking in the plastic like it was vacuum-packed. Is that something a fungus or bacteria does, or is there some abiotic chain-reaction taking place?
6. You might be curious why I had Twinkies from 2012 in my basement. 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. Plus I spent part of my childhood in Utah where stockpiling food is a moral duty.
7. By popular demand, here's a close-up of the shriveled Twinkie. It is approximately 1 oz lighter than a fresh one.
8. More views of the 8-year old Twinkie, some of which seem to show fungal hyphae. I also noticed several globs of yellow on the exterior of the wrapper (e.g., bottom right pic) that I assume are from holes. Maybe it's one of those fungi that can eat plastic.
9. Infected Twinkies are on their way to @kasson_wvu and @lovettbr. For the culture, of course. Stay tuned.
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Mason bee houses are easy to find these days but most are poorly designed death traps. Please don't buy them.
The one above has blocks and reeds that are glued to the back. That means you can't add fresh nesting materials each spring. And thus parasites just keep increasing in numbers and your mason bees will suffer.
Reeds are roughly cut so that wings of mason bees will likely get damaged on the sharp edges.