Happy National Donut Day!
Mrs Joralemon was a Dutch immigrant opened the first doughnut shop in NYC (1673). Although this is not a Dutch creation. According to Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, “Doughnuts are deep-fried cakes with a long European history and roots in still earlier Middle Eastern cuisine….”, Arabian origin that spread into northern Europe in the 1400’s.
England, Germany and the Netherlands embraced these fritters. Germany often cooked savory with fillings like meat or mushroom (15th century).
The Pilgrims and Dutch settlers brought doughnuts to America.”… They were introduced to America by the Dutch in New Netherlands to America as oliekoecken (oil cakes or fried cakes). Made of yeast dough rich in eggs and butter, spices, and dried fruits, their sweetness came from the fruit and the final dusting of sugar. The dough was often somewhat sticky (additional flour toughened and masked the spicy and buttery flavors), and was dropped as blobs off the end of a spoon into hot rapeseed oil (canola). The resulting doughnuts took the form of irregular balls, at some point called oliebollen, or oil (fried) balls. They were eaten during the dutch Christmas season, which extended through New Year’s through Twelfth Night (January 6), and for special occasions throughout the year.”
“William Rosenberg (1916-2002), the son of immigrant Jewish parents, was operating an industrial catering business in which he sold snacks in converted secondhand trucks near factories around his native Dorchester, Massachusetts. He noticed that doughnuts and coffee accounted for 40 percent of his sales, and in 1948 launched a doughnut shop called the Open Kettle in Quincy, Massachusetts, the heart of America’s original doughnut country, aiming for a blue-collar clientele…”
“This unassuming store would eventually become, in Rosenberg’s words, ‘the world’s largest coffee and baked goods chain.’ Two years after opening, Rosenberg changed the store’s name to Dunkin’ Donuts and five years after that, arranged the first franchise in nearby Worcester… By 1963, there were 100 Dunkin’ Donuts shops, and by 1979, there were 1,000.
Fun Facts:
The Salvation Army would hand these out to newly arriving immigrants on Ellis Island (1920s)
The two most common types are the ring doughnut and the filled doughnut, which is injected with fruit preserves, cream, custard, or other sweet fillings.
Krispy Kreme was the first national donut store chain. Krispy Kreme was born in North Carolina when Vernon Rudolph bought the secret recipe from a frenchmen in New Orleans. Krispy Kreme first opened its doors on July 13, 1937 in Winston-Salem and has been booming in business ever since.
More than 10 billion donuts are produced in the US per year. 17 million of those are made by one single donut chain! … Nope, not Dunkin nor Krispy Kreme..Lamar’s Donuts
The most expensive donut in the world was made by Krispy Kreme and sold for more than $1,000. The 23-carat, gold-dusted donut was filled with Dom Pérignon Champagne jelly, sprinkled with 24-carat gold leaf and edible diamonds. Now that’s one rich dessert.!
https://www.delish.com/food-news/a47503/10-things-you-never-knew-about-donuts/
https://toriavey.com/history-kitchen/the-history-of-doughnuts/