All Things Southern: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

Welcome to another posting in All Things Southern.

This is where I blog about certain products or places that are mentioned in my recent novel, A Wedding Invitation. I decided it was time to let the culinary juices take over and research one of Winston-Salem's finer qualities---doughnuts!

What does a secret recipe, a French chef and a hole in a building have in common? All of them are connected to the origins of the delectable, airy doughnuts we've grown to love over the years.

In 1937, Vernon Rudolph purchased a yeast-based secret doughnut recipe from a French chef in New Orleans. Rudolph rented a building (in what is today part of Old Salem, North Carolina) to start creating batches of doughnuts to sell to local grocery stores.

As folks walked past his baking facilities, the sweet aroma of the doughnuts made them hungry. They asked if they could buy doughnuts and thinking like a businessman, Rudolph cut a hole in one of the outside walls and started selling Original Glazed Doughnuts to passer-bys on the sidewalk.

By 1996, Krispy Kreme's fame spread past the southeast and stores opened in New York and in 1999, the first one opened in California. Along with sugary doughnuts, the stores serve hot coffee.

Krispy Kreme was 60 in 1997, and given recognition in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. Artifacts are displayed at the museum for all to see.

In 2001, the company went international and hot doughnuts are now sold in Asia, Canada, Mexico, England, Australia, the Middle East, Puerto Rico, and Turkey.

It sure does make my southern heart glad to know that this North Carolina company's treats are enjoyed around the world.

And with a mission statement as pure as "To touch and enhance lives through the joy that is Krispy Kreme", how could anything go wrong? I think I need to get some enhancement in the form of a raspberry-filled right now.

I'm headed to my local grocery store!