When Roger Bennatti arrived in Blue Hill to teach chemistry and physics at George Stevens Academy, he didn鈥檛 set out to become the man responsible for preserving the world鈥檚 oldest known Twinkie.
But a few years later, in 1976, a student spoke up during a lesson on food chemistry and preservatives to ask how long one of the snack cakes would last.
Bennatti didn鈥檛 know, he said, but they could find out. He sent the student to the Merrill & Hinckley store next door to buy a package. Bennatti ate one and set the other on top of the chalkboard.
Half a century later, it still lives at the high school in its own glass case鈥攄ry, missing crumbs, and likely having absorbed some chalk dust, but otherwise intact.
鈥淭he Twinkie and I are a lot alike,鈥� Bennatti now jokes. 鈥淲e鈥檙e old, gray and flaky.鈥�
While he sees it as a funny, feel-good story, the ongoing experiment also shows the power of curiosity and a longer view of science that may be less familiar to people. Along the way, the Twinkie has put the school into the limelight and likely had a hand in the cake鈥檚 reputation as a food that could survive the apocalypse.
But for years, it didn鈥檛 seem like much to Bennatti or his students. The Twinkie stayed in his classroom for the rest of his career, moving just a few feet to the top of the intercom speaker when the chalkboard was replaced with a thinner whiteboard.
The Twinkie became an international news sensation when Bennatti retired in 2004, after a Bangor Daily News story calling it his legacy caught the attention of other outlets. That year, it moved into the care of Libby Rosemeier, one of his students that fateful day in 1976 who later became a GSA teacher, then dean of students.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 the beauty of it, Roger, that you were asked the question and [were] like, 鈥榃ell, let鈥檚 find out,鈥� and so we did,鈥� she said on a December morning when the two reunited to discuss the Twinkie. 鈥淔or us, that was the big thing. It was like, 鈥極h my God, he鈥檚 really going to do this.鈥欌��
When the Twinkie moved into her office, her father built the small glass display case it still inhabits, surrounded by a sprinkling of gray crumbs it has shed in the years since.
People weren鈥檛 particularly concerned about preservatives at the time either, she added, but the experiment was a catalyst for Rosemeier and her classmates to think more about what was in their food.
The Twinkie鈥檚 shelf life was about 3 1/2 weeks, and it technically had just one preservative, sorbic acid, on its ingredient list, according to Steve Ettlinger, who spent five years researching its ingredients for a book on the cakes. Other processed ingredients replace butter, milk, and eggs, meaning there鈥檚 less in it that can spoil.
Bennatti said the Maine Twinkie鈥檚 longevity has also had wide-ranging cultural influence on the cake鈥檚 reputation as a food that could last forever, possibly surviving nuclear war or worse.
People sometimes ask if he鈥檚 ever heard from the Hostess company, but no: 鈥淭hey want to kill me. They want me dead,鈥� he jokes. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not proud of this.鈥�
He鈥檚 also been asked if he would like to taste the Twinkie, to which the answer is also 鈥渘o": It鈥檚 an ongoing experiment without an end in sight.
Students are only in high school for a few years, and most of the experiments they undertake in class have to be finished in 45 minutes.
鈥淏ut that鈥檚 not necessarily the way science works,鈥� Bennatti said. 鈥淪ome experiments last much longer. And this is now 50 years and counting, and I think that鈥檚 worthwhile.鈥�
Steve Adam, who now teaches science in Bennatti鈥檚 old classroom, said it鈥檚 a good experiment because of that.
鈥淭here are experiments that are finite and have an end time, and then there are experiments that you鈥檙e like, 鈥楲et鈥檚 see what happens over time,鈥欌�� Adam said. 鈥淎nd since time never ends, you know, the experiment鈥檚 never going to end. You鈥檙e just going to keep looking at the Twinkie as it gets older and older and older.鈥�
Adam refers to it as a Twinkie mummy because it has dried out (desiccation, the teachers note, is another form of preservation). But, notably, the cake isn鈥檛 moldy or showing signs of rot like he would expect.
The Twinkie lives in the school鈥檚 offices now, making appearances by special request, though executive assistant Gail Strehan said staff are careful not to expose it to direct sunlight for too long.
Bennatti would have liked to see the Twinkie on public display for students, but safety concerns come first.
鈥淵ou鈥檇 have to have some incredibly expensive security system,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o the system they have here is probably the best.鈥�
Freshmen still seek it out on their orientation scavenger hunts each year, out-of-state visitors have stopped by to see it, and the calls from national reporters still come in occasionally.
Safe in its glass home, the Twinkie shows no signs of going anywhere.
鈥淎s it stands there, I think it鈥檚 pretty much forever,鈥� Bennatti said, the Twinkie in front of him illuminated by a sunbeam in its case. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 what the whole point was.鈥�
