FUN DONUT FACT:

Do you know where the jelly donut came from?

The jelly donut can be traced back to the 1500's and was included in Gutenberg‘s first cookbook printed on his "revolutionary printing press." This early version consisted of a bit of jam sandwiched between two rounds of yeast bread dough and deep-fried in lard. Whether the anonymous author actually invented the idea or recounted a new practice, the concept of filling a doughnut with jam spread across the globe.

Originally sugar was very expensive so more common was a filling of meat, fish, mushrooms, cheese, or other savory mixtures. In the sixteenth century, the price of sugar fell with the introduction of Caribbean sugar plantations. Soon sugar and, in turn, fruit preserves proliferated in Europe. Within a century of the jelly doughnut’s initial appearance in Germany, every northern European country from Denmark to Russia had adopted the pastry, although it was still a rare treat generally associated with specific holidays. Much later, someone in Germany invented a metal pastry syringe with which to inject jelly into already fried doughnuts, making the treat much easier and neater, and in the twentieth century, machines were developed to inject doughnuts in mass production.

To read the complete history of the jelly donut click here