BeaverTail — Canada. Canada is the most doughnut-obsessed country in North America — and the world. Canadians consume more doughnuts per capita and have more doughnut shops per capita than any other country.
Per capita, Canadians eat the most doughnuts compared to all world countries. The large number of Tim Hortons restaurants in Canada (over 4,600) significantly contributes to this consumption rate.
For the love of doughnuts
Whether it be a cruller or apple fritter, Canadians eat the most doughnuts in the world.
“Doughnuts are deep-fried cakes with a long European history and roots in still earlier Middle Eastern cuisine. They were introduced to America by the Dutch in New Netherlands to America as oliekoecken (oil cakes or fried cakes).
The much talked about Caramilk Brulee Doughnut won DoughHeads not only the top gong in the gourmet doughnut category, but also Champion Donut in Show. The circular sweetie is filled with sweet caramilk custard, topped with toffee and then drizzled with caramilk chocolate.
Japan is known for its unique and delicious take on traditional treats, and donuts are no exception! Mister Donut, the iconic Japanese doughnut chain, has served up sweet and indulgent treats to locals and tourists for over 40 years.
Captain Hanson Gregory (1832-1921) created the donut as a teen while trying to feed a crew of sailors — and changed American culinary culture forever. Americans have a "hole" lotta love for the donut. Credit Maine mariner Captain Hanson Crockett Gregory for that.
Rings. Hanson Gregory, an American, claimed to have invented the ring-shaped doughnut in 1847 aboard a lime-trading ship when he was 16 years old.
While food resembling doughnuts has been found at many ancient sites, the earliest origins to the modern doughnuts are generally traced back to the olykoek (“oil(y) cake”) Dutch settlers brought with them to early New York (or New Amsterdam).
Krispy Kreme Australia is proud of being the first country outside of North America to make the iconic Original Glazed Doughnuts.
Did you know Canada is the #1 donut consumer in the world? We must really love our donuts because there are only 30-million people in Canada, but we eat 1-billion donuts annually.
In Utica, New York, representatives from these two bakeries came together to make a giant 3,739 pounds 16ft wide donut. To this day, this is the largest donut ever made. It remains the world record in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The world's most expensive donut is crowned by a gold-plated fleur de chocolat in the shape of a cattleya orchid - and the corresponding engagement ring. "There are no upper limits, the customer can of course also express wishes about the ring, such as whether the diamond should have more carats.
As the story goes, a New England woman named Elizabeth Gregory fried some dough to send with her son for his voyage at sea during the 19th century. Elizabeth was the one who fried the dough with nuts, leading to the name 'donut,' but her son was the one who put a hole in the center, giving us the classic donut shape.
But the doughnut proper (if that's the right word) supposedly came to Manhattan (then still New Amsterdam) under the unappetizing Dutch name of olykoeks--"oily cakes."
The name of the doughnut
Some believe that the Pilgrims called the small olykoeks doughnuts because as the dough balls were fried so quickly, the centre would never fully cook, resulting in a “doughy” centre.
So what makes the two types of doughnuts different beyond their humble beginnings? It's mainly the leavening agent. Cake doughnuts, so named for their cakey taste and texture, are leavened with baking soda and baking powder, whereas yeast doughnuts are leavened with, you guessed it, yeast.
L.A. became the country's epicenter of donut culture when Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian immigrant, arrived in California during the 1970s. After setting up a sweet shop of his own, he helped fellow refugees who had fled from the Khmer Rouge create their own pastry empires.
Traditional Chinese Donuts are called Youtiao. They are different than the ones you see at the Chinese buffet and are more of a cruller or churro type as you can see here. But we still call these Chinese Donuts because essentially that is what they label the ones at the buffets that we have experienced.
An indulgent iced caramel donut with gooey caramel filling, topped with biscuit pieces and a dark cocoa drizzle.
According to the Los Angeles Times, it was shops run by Cambodian refugees in Los Angeles in the 1970s that popularized the usage of pink boxes. The shop owners decided to use pink boxes over more expensive white boxes in order to avoid skimping on ingredients.