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10 interesting facts about the iconic American donuts – Italian Cuisine


10 curiosities on the colorful and delicious donuts donuts, always the favorite breakfast and one of the comfort food par excellence of the American people

The greedy ones "Donut", the famous fried and glazed American donuts, can be considered one of the iconic foods par excellence of American culture and cuisine, especially in terms of desserts and pastries. Yet, incredible but true, these colorful and low-calorie donuts are actually of Dutch origin. This is just one of the many curiosities that lie behind this American comfort food: From the origin of the name to the most bizarre variants, up to the extraordinary world records won by voracious donut eaters.

1. The Dutch origin of American donuts

Although Americans are proud of their donuts, the origin of the donuts must be attributed to the Dutch. Since the mid-nineteenth century, what could be considered the ancestor of donuts, or a local sweet called olykoek, spread in the Netherlands: small fritters fried in pork fat. The Dutch immigrants exported this cake to America, giving way to what would be the evolution of the American donut to the present day.

2. Why do donuts have holes?

Often these "donuts without holes" were stuffed with dried fruit or other, also to facilitate the difficult cooking of the internal part of the dough. To solve this problem even more effectively, in 1847 the naval captain Hansen Gregory of New England had theintuition to pierce the center of the dough before frying it, giving life to what would have been the first real donut in history.

3. The first machine to make donuts

To consolidate the ring shape of the donuts, as well as its diffusion and its success at national level, was the invention, in 1920, the first automatic machine, by the Russian immigrant Adolph Levitt. The official presentation of this machine happened at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1934, during which the donuts were called “the food of the century of progress”.

4. The origin of the word "donut"

THE'origin of the name "ciambella" (donut) is much discussed. Some say it refers to nuts that were placed inside the dough ball, while others say it refers to "knots of dough", which is another popular form of olykoek. The first written record of the word "donut" dates back to an 1809 publication by Washington Irving, A History of New York.

5. The "Donut Day"

Donut Day (National Donut Day) is celebrated every year from afar 1938 and even has an official website. This festival was created to celebrate the Salvation Army which provided donuts to American troops abroad free of charge during the First World War.

6. The numbers of the Dunkin 'Donuts empire

Today Dunkin ’Donuts is the most famous and largest donut shop chain, with over 10 thousand stores in 33 countries serving more than 5 million customers a day. The first Dunkin ’Donuts was opened in 1950.

7. The most expensive donut in the world (for a good cause)

Krispy Kreme Donuts, Inc., the most famous American donut brand, realized in 2014 the most expensive donut in the world, at the price of 1000 pounds. The precious donut in question, prepared with Belgian chocolate and covered with golden leaves and a sprinkling of edible diamonds, was presented at the Selfridges department store in the United Kingdom during the National Donut Week for a fundraiser for the UK Children's charity Trust.

8. The most bizarre donuts in the world

Although the classic American donut is fried and glazed, there are also imaginative variations, with all kinds of sweet or savory ingredients. Between most bizarre proposals who made the news in the United States there are the savory pizzas donut, the tasty donut mac and cheese, the oriental sushi donut, the candy-pink Bubblegum donuts and finally the alcoholic Shot Glass Donuts, placed on shot glasses and filled with liquor.

9. Competition donut eaters

As with any traditional US food, there is also a section dedicated to world records. It dates back to 2014 the one for the donut eaten faster, moreover without hands and without licking lips; the record is 11.41 seconds, and was reached by Philip Joseph Santoro (USA), in San Francisco, California. In 2017, instead, the American YouTube star and professional eater Kevin "LA Beast" Strahle managed to swallow six donuts in three minutes, all without licking each other's lips.

10. The real donuts of Homer Simpson

Impossible not to associate the American donuts with the cartoon character Homer Simpson, which made us laugh so much and dream with his own gluttonous donuts covered with pink icing. Well, to the delight of the many fans of America's most popular cartoon, in 2018 Krispi Kremenel released a special edition of the two “Homer style” donuts, made with a creamy white strawberry chocolate and a layer of colored sugar ; assured commercial success.

Photo: ciambella americana_Flickr_m01229.jpg
Photo: typical American donut dinut_pixabay.jpg
Photo: Colored American donut_Wall_Food_Michael Stern.jpg
Photo: donuts various donut_Pixabay.jpg

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