twinkie Wikimedia Commons

This morning, Hostess brands, which makes some of America's most iconic snack foods, was forced to close its operations.

Hostess' most famous brand is the Twinkie, which is infamous for its seemingly "never-ending expiration date." Some people say it turns alcoholic after years, others say it's one of the few foods that could survive a nuclear attack.

Most likely someone will buy the brand and reproduce the snack, but for now, Twinkies just got much harder to come by.

So what actually happens to a Twinkie over time? And how long will the ones in your closet actually last now that they are no longer in production?

Author Steve Ettlinger devoted an entire book to the Twinkie, called "Twinkie, Deconstructed", and found that it is made with 39 different ingredients.

A science teacher in Blue Hill, Maine, kept one in his classroom for 30 years. "It's rather brittle, but if you dusted it off, it's probably still edible," Roger Bennatti told the Associated Press in 2004.

But despite all the myths, Twinkies really only have a shelf-life of 25 days, according to most sources — including Theresa Cogswell, the self-proclaimed Twinkie guru and vice president for research and development at Interstate Bakeries Corp., the parent company of Hostess.

That's still quite impressive for a pastry, especially considering that many Starbucks locations throw out old pastries if they are not sold that day.

SEE ALSO: 18,500 Workers Out Of Jobs As Hostess Shuts Down >