National Donut day is the first Friday of June each year which means it must have an important history for a whole celebration to be attributed to it. To the Canadian readers out there, did you know that University of Toronto’s graduate professor, Steve Penfold, wrote an entire book on the Canadian history of the donut?

“Square Donuts” observed one morning in the Food District. Illustration by Margaret Bi — ***“Square Donuts” observed one morning in the Food District.*** Illustration by Margaret Bi

Here are 5 things you might not know about donuts:

1. Do(ugh)nut

“Doughnut” vs. “Donut” are the most common way to refer to the sweet desserts you might find at your local coffee shop or Timmy’s. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the official spelling is “doughnut,” however late in the 19th century the Massachusetts-based chain, Dunkin’ Donuts, first started taking off and popularizing—dare I say—the optimized spelling of this word.

2. Olykoeks?

Smithsonian claims that doughnuts in some form have been around so long that archaeologists keep finding bits of donuts in prehistoric Native American settlements. However, the original donuts came to Manhattan in Dutch settlements under the very unappetizing Dutch name of olykoeks—“oily cakes.”

3. Holes Holes Holes

Pretty dramatic for pastry—if you ask me.

The story goes that there was a Captain in the mid-19th century named Hanson Gregory whose mother cleverly made deep-fried dough out of nutmeg, cinnamon, and lemon rind. She made these so that her son and his crew can store the pastry on long voyages to help prevent scurvy and colds.

First theory, the donuts usually came out raw in the centre because the ingredients used to make the donut made it difficult to cook evenly. The simple solution? Punch out the middle.
Second theory, Captain Gregory skewered the donuts onto the spoke of his ship’s wheel because he needed both hands to navigate during a storm.

Nonetheless, he recalled dramatically using the top of a round pepper box to cut into the middle of the doughnut “the first doughnut hole every seen by mortal eyes.”

4. The “Nut”

The nut comes from the hazelnuts or walnuts that were originally supposed to be in the centre, where the dough might not cook all the way through. In a literal way, the pair became the dough-nut.

5. Shape Politics

The first encounter I had with Square donuts was at Square One Shopping Centre at a small bakery called The Box Donut. Skeptics about square donuts think it doesn’t follow tradition, but the real reason why square donuts are underrated is because the shape of the square donuts leave edges prone to breaking apart plus the larger area costs more to sell.

Author’s Note:

Square donuts have actually been around for over 50 years since 1967 which were first invented by Richard Comer. After addressing this heated controversy…where would bagels fit into this?

Where does the donut hole really come from?