1808 - The earliest known recorded usage of the term 'donut; in a short story describing a spread of "fire-cakes and dough-nuts.
1809 - In 'History of New York' by Washington lrving, he attempts to define the 'donut' in detail which simply suggested that it was not commonly known then.The centre of the donut-to ensure that the donut would be cooked throughout.
1847 - A sea caption by the name of Caption Hanson Gregory claims to have originated the hole in the donut.Unfortunately, he was later accused of being a witch and burned at the stake. There are many versions as to how he came about this idea but in the town of Rockport,Maine,where he grew up,there is a brenze plague commemorating him to this day.
1872 - The first donut cutter was patented by John Blondell and it was made of wood.
1889 - An improvised version of the donut cutter made of tin with a fluted edge was patented.
1917 - Female volunteers from the Salvation Army came to the aid of soldiers serving in France during World War 1. The volunteers laboured unselfishly to make sure there were sufficient donuts to go around for the soldiers who instantly felt like they were back home in the United States. The volunteers soon became known as 'lassies'.
1920 - Adolph Levitt, an enterprising refugee from Russia, invented the first donut machine in New York City. This was to meet the growing demand for the tasty donuts sold at his bakery.
1934 - 1. In the same year that the World's Fair in Chicago declared the donut 'the hit food of the Century Of Progress', Levitt was earning 25 million dollars annually for the sale of of his doughnut machines to bakeries"\n"2.In the movie 'It Happened One Night' Clark Gable teaches Claudette Corbet how to 'dunk'.
1937 - 'You can get by just on coffee and donuts if you're in love - described from a popular love song.
1938 - The Chicago Salvation Army officially declared 'National Donut Day' to raise funds during the Great Depression.
1945 - During World War II , the American Red Cross women , earning the name Donut Dollies, followed the invasion forces in Europe and the Pacific to pass out donuts to the brave soldiers.By 1946, the organization had purchased enough flour to make 1.6 billion donuts.The Donut Dollies were able to serve out 400 donuts per minute.
1981 - John Haight gobbled up 29 donuts (52 ounces in total) in just over six minutes to claim the Guinness World Record for donut eating.
1993 - At the time, the world's largest donut was a jelly donut made in Utica, New York.It weighed in at 1.7 tons/ 3739 lbs, 16 feet/ 4.99 m in diameter and 16 in/ 40.6 cm high in the centre.
1998 - The world's largest donut to date was created by Winchell's Donut House in Pasadena,California to celebrate its 50th anniversary.It weighed in at a whopping 5 000 pounds and 95 ft in diameter (Longer than an NBA basketball court) .It took more than 200 people to put this giant donut together using approximately 7000 pieces of 12-inch apple fritters
2007 - Big Apple Donuts & Coffee opened its first store in Malaysia.