By Mary Davis
“Twixt optimist andpessimist
The difference is droll;
The optimist the doughnutsees -
The pessimist the hole.”
A poem in a New York Newspaper, 1904
Either by McLandburgh Wilson or Oscar Wilde
People have been deepfrying these tasty treats—in one form or another—for millennia. One of theearliest mentions of something that sounds like it could be a doughnut isdescribed like this, “. . . cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.” Leviticus7:12, the Bible. Now, that might not be an actual doughnut, but when you frycakes, that’s close enough to being a doughnut for this gal.
It’s hard to trace thehistory of doughnuts. Differing foodies give credit to Dutch, English, orGerman as the origin. When the Dutch came to Manhattan (then called NewAmsterdam), they had a deep-fried sweet dough called olykoeks, a.k.a.oil balls. The English had a similar fried-dough treat. However, neither ofthese were the variety we think of with a hole in them.
Until 1847, doughnuts werehunks of deep-fried dough, often crispy on the outside with a doughy, uncookedcenter. A sixteen-year-old sailor Hanson Gregory on a lime-trading schoonerclaims he came up with the hole-in-the-center doughnut. He used the lid of asmall pepper tin to cut out the center, removing what usually remaineduncooked. Or, an alternate version claims, as the ship’s captain, Gregoryrequested something that he could put on the ship’s wheel while pilotingthrough a storm, and a sailor came up with the hole in the doughnut. The storyvaries, but either way, Gregory is credited with the hole-in-the-middleinvention. When he returned home to Maine and showed his mother, she begancooking them up, making them a local smash hit.
It’s easy to see how thefirst half of doughnut came about, but where did the “nut” come from?Three theories on that one. The first is that early ones were shaped a littlelike nuts. The second is that the Dutch sometimes filled the center (that oftencame out doughy) with things like almonds, walnuts, and other nuts, or even driedfruit. The nut would take up the space that normally didn’t cook, solving theproblem. The third is that some early doughnuts were twisted and called dough knots. Perhaps, all three are trueand came together in unity to be known as doughnuts.
Though a well-loved treatnow, they weren’t fully embraced throughout the 19th century until theSalvation Army took them to war in the 1910s. Two hundred and fifty SalvationArmy volunteers went to the French front during WWI to provide snacks and foodfor the soldiers. The ladies had wanted to bake cakes and pies, but ovensweren’t available in the trenches. However, pots (and sometimes helmets) alongwith lard were, so they deep-fried doughnuts. They used juice bottles and shellcasings to roll the dough. Then they cut them out with an empty baking powdertin and made the center hole with a broken part from an old coffee pot.
These ladies would bereferred to as doughnut lassies, doughnut dolls, or doughnut girls. When theregiment leader told the ladies they had to stop serving doughnuts to men underfire, one volunteer said, “Colonel, we can die with the men, but we cannotleave them.” When the men returned from war, so did their appetites for doughnuts,contributing to the spread of these tasty treats.
Jewish Russian refugeeimmigrant Adolph Levitt opened many different kinds of shops after coming tothe US. All failed until he opened a doughnut shop in Gotham, NY. People linedup around the block to try his creation. He couldn’t keep up with demand andrealized he needed to develop a machine to speed up the process.
On a train, Levitt met anengineer, and together in 1920, they developed a working machine that rolled,cut, and fried the doughnuts—after the first eleven attempts had failed. Now,Levitt could produce hundreds of doughnuts an hour to keep up with the demand.
.jpg "DOUGHNUTS: THE “HOLE” STORY by Mary Davis (5)")
The poem at the beginningof this post was updated in 1929 by a Charleston, West Virginia restaurant to:
“As you ramble onthrough life, brother,
Whateverbe your goal,
Keepyour eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole.”
Adolph Levitt had thisversion of the quote on the front door of all of his shops and on the doughnutboxes.
At the 1934 World’s Fair,doughnuts were touted as “the food hit of the Century Of Progress”,causing them to race across the country with almost instant success.
National Doughnut Day isonly two weeks away on June 7th! It’s the first Friday of June each year. Itwas started in 1938 as a fundraiser by the Salvation Army for needy peopleduring the Great Depression. It is to celebrate the brave lady volunteers ofthe Salvation Army who went to the frontlines during the First World War toprovide food for the soldiers. Some people say that November 5th is National Doughnut day,but no one really knows why. Its main focus is simply on doughnuts. But why choose? Many celebrate both days byeating doughnuts. Works for me.
Here is a link to “TheParable of the Donuts”.
I’ve always loved maplebars (long johns), but as I’ve gotten older, I can only eat about a third ofone at a time. Were they always that puckeringly sweet? But they are stillmm-mm good.
What’s your favorite kindof doughnut?
THEQUILTING CIRCLE SERIESBox Set
Historical Romance Series
By Mary Davis
THE WIDOW’S PLIGHT (Book1) – Will a secret clouding asingle mother’s past cost Lily her loved ones?
THE DAUGHTER’SPREDICAMENT(Book2) *SELAH & WRMA Finalist* – As Isabelle’s romance prospects turn inher favor, a family scandal derails her dreams.
THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (Book3) *SELAH Winner* – Nicole headsdown the mountain to fetch herself a husband. Can she learn to be enough of alady to snag the handsome rancher?
THE DÉBUTANTE’S SECRET (Book4) – Complications arise when afancy French lady steps off the train and into Deputy Montana’s arms.
MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle Book 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) is a SELAH Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT, THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection, Prodigal Daughters Amish series, "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups. Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of thirty-seven years and one cat. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:
Sources:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/doughnut-history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Donut_Day
https://nationaltoday.com/national-donut-day/
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/national-donut-day-ctrp/index.html
https://www.thespruceeats.com/the-history-of-doughnuts-1328766
https://www.roses2rainbows.com/2017/11/the-wisdom-of-doughnut.html
