Are doughnuts nuts?

[purplepoppy]

First of all it's doughnut not donut, now that's settled where does the nut bit come in? They're not nuts, right?

[Lliam]

Are YOU a nut, purplepoppy? LOL I'm teasing you.
Nope. But sometimes nuts are sprinkled on top of the frosting. :-)

Etymology. From dough +‎ nut, 1809 because originally small, nut-sized balls of fried dough, or, more likely, from nut in the earlier sense of "small rounded cake or cookie", with the toroidal shape becoming common in the twentieth century.

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"small, spongy cake made of dough and fried in lard," 1809, American English, from dough + nut (n.), probably on the notion of being a small round lump (the holes came later; they are first mentioned c. 1861). First recorded by Washington Irving, who described them as "balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called doughnuts, or olykoeks."

Earlier name for it was dough-boy (1680s). Bartlett (1848) meanwhile lists doughnuts and crullers among the types of olycokes, a word he derives from Dutch olikoek, literally "oil-cake," to indicate a cake fried in lard.

[KrakenAttackin]

@Lliam. Great answer... and made me crave donuts.

[AviatorTom]

@purplepoppy You ask interesting questions, as usual.

My understanding is that the word "doughnut" is a corruption of dough + nought, because it looks like a nought (zero).

We Americans shortened it to "donut", which goes back to colonial times. Colonial printers needed to import expensive ink from England, so they did whatever they could to reduce the amount of ink they used. That involved shortening many words: "doughnut" to "donut", "programme" to "program", "colour" to "color" and other similar shortened words.

[SaoirseS]

Good question. Here's what I found:

"The origin of the name of doughnut is up for debate. Some believe it refers to the nuts that were added to the dough to add flavor. Others believe that the name comes from a recipe where by hazelnuts or walnuts were placed in the center of the cake as that part rarely cooked properly. Placing of the nuts in the middle of the dough avoided having an uncooked center. A third thought is that related to the shape of the doughnut. The dough was often tied in a knot style, a dough knot evolved into doughnut."

My mom still makes donuts, but visitors who eat them call them "wagon wheels" because they come out the size of a kid's wagon wheel. They're f'ing huge.

[OldSchool_Metalhead]

A customer at my job said to me one time that her husband pointed out something in the name she can't unsee.

"Don't nut"

[TCredo]

lol commercially at least in North America it's donut but no worries lol... I will admit to googling this - and this article makes sense :)

https://delishably.com/desserts/Why-are-Doughnuts-Called-Doughnuts

Also worth noting... some companies like Dunkin' (previously named Dunkin Donuts) made gazillions on the "holes" when they created "Munchkins" which are little round doughnut like things...

[bean2k21]

Unlike these other users, I would never lie to you
Doughnuts are the testicles of a mythical creature
who sacrificed his life to become a load of bread

[bowenw]

It looks like a nut that is threaded onto a bolt. You just have to find the guy that owns the bolt, same as you're doing with the jeans at the thrift store. Perhaps it's the same guy.

[andreasderjuengere]

They once had a nut in the centre.

Meanwhile it's left away - and hence the hole.

The name remained.

[Sandeeppingping]

Why do they look like they're doing an actual presentation in which they're showing us the actual size of their holes

[Smoothing]

Well, you can call it daughole if you wish. It has a hole any way.

[convo_king89]

I don’t like nuts on doughnuts nor doughnuts on my nuts.

[EaterPeter]

If some people can go nuts with or without them does it count?

[legalboxers]

no... like all munchkins.. Munch :)

[Guy13]

Krispy Kreme doughnut 😋

[Wise4myage]

No, just tasty.

[Zolly99999]

I don't eat donuts

[jimmy2]

Not sure how they got that name