Doughnut

Lore & Background

A recipe for a deep-fried dough ball was recorded by Cato the Elder in his De agri cultura, using cheese, honey, and poppy seeds, called globi. A 13th-century Arabic cookbook by Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī contains a recipe for a doughnut-like variant of sfenj, made by frying leavened semolina dough, with instructions to shape the dough into a Ka'ak with a hole in the middle to test its proofing. The cookbook Küchenmeisterei, published in Nuremberg in 1485, offers a recipe for 'Gefüllte Krapfen', stuffed, fried dough cakes.

Dutch settlers brought olykoek ('oil cake') to New York in the early 18th century. A recipe for fried dough 'nuts' was published in 1750 England under the title 'How to make Hertfordshire Cakes, Nuts and Pincushions'. The first cookbook using the near conventional 'dough nuts' spelling was possibly the 1803 edition of 'The Frugal Housewife'. Washington Irving's 1809 book A History of New York described 'dough-nuts' as 'balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat'.

Hanson Gregory claimed to have invented the ring-shaped doughnut in 1847 aboard a lime-trading ship when he was 16 years old, by punching a hole in the center of dough with the ship's tin pepper box. The first known printed use of 'donut' was in Peck's Bad Boy and his Pa by George W. Peck, published in 1900. The spelling 'donut' was reportedly invented in the 1920s by the Display Doughnut Machine Corporation to make the word more pronounceable for foreign buyers.

Reader's Guide

The doughnut is a globally recognized sweet snack with a long history spanning ancient Roman, medieval Arabic, and European culinary traditions. Its evolution from simple fried dough balls to the ring and filled varieties reflects both technological innovation and cultural exchange. The ring shape, attributed to Hanson Gregory in the mid-19th century, addressed the problem of undercooked centers and allowed for more even frying. The spelling 'donut' emerged in the early 20th century, partly through commercial branding, and has since become common in American English, though 'doughnut' remains the traditional form. Doughnuts are typically accompanied by coffee or milk in the United States, and their production ranges from home kitchens to large franchised chains. The treat's adaptability—through toppings, fillings, and shapes—has ensured its enduring popularity across many countries and social contexts.

Did You Know?

• A recipe for a deep-fried dough ball called globi was recorded by Cato the Elder in the 2nd century BCE.
• The first known printed use of 'donut' was in George W. Peck's 1900 book Peck's Bad Boy and his Pa.
• Hanson Gregory claimed to have invented the ring-shaped doughnut in 1847 by punching a hole in the dough with a ship's tin pepper box.
• The spelling 'donut' was reportedly invented in the 1920s by the Display Doughnut Machine Corporation to make the word more pronounceable.