All About the Donut.
First of all, these days “doughnut” and “donut” are interchangeable. Now on to its origins as the doughnut history comes with multiple legends and stories as well as centuries-old predecessors.
Doughnut History & Timeline
It all possibly started with the Ancient Greeks and Romans who were known to have eaten small fried cakes dipped in honey. Sweet fried cakes…doughnuts. There is definitely a similarity.
Centuries later, the Arabs in the 1400s brought their fried, unsweetened yeast dough which was drenched in a sugary syrup to Europe. These fritters were said to have inspired the origins of doughnuts throughout the continent.
In 1667, there is evidence of fried oily cakes, or olykoek, in a Dutch cookbook. And it was versions of this recipe that were taken by immigrants to the Americas.
The most famous origin story comes from the mid-1800s. Hanson Gregory a Dutch ship captain brought along his mother’s olykoek and recipe on his journey to the Americas. The ship’s cook was not able to probably cook the middle of the oily cake. Frustrated, Gregory jammed the cake on the ship’s steering wheel to take out the raw center. He loved his haphazard creation and told the cook to make the olykoek with a hole in the center.
As for the name doughnut, stories further mention that Gregory’s mother, Elizabeth, made her cakes out of dough and nuts, with the nuts in the middle. However, her son requested no nuts for the cakes and recipe he took with him on board the ship.
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