Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles


Chocolate iced with sprinkles...powdered cake...glazed devil's food...lemon filled...powdered blueberry filled...maple iced. If you're a fan you know what I'm talking about...the Krispy Kreme.

A Southern favorite since the 1930's, the Krispy Kreme doughnut is known for its melt-in-your-mouth, lighter-than-air, puffy goodness and its pizza-like box. Headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Krispy Kreme has approximately 140 stores in 27 states. And I remember its Yankee invasion, as if it were my own mother's birthday.

In 1994, Krispy Kreme launched a drive-through shop in Indianapolis and shortly after that opened stores in New York City. My first taste of the heavenly doughnut led to a sugar-induced epiphany. No longer could I enjoy the doughnut of another (the big double d) when I knew there was a glazed masterpiece out there. If Homer Simpson were a real person, I know the Krispy Kreme would be his raison d'etre.

The Krispy Kreme is not just a sugary pastry but has attained almost cult-like status:

*In Driving Miss Daisy, Morgan Freeman says to Jessica Tandy, "Here's your Krispy Kremes, Miss Daisy."

*Elvis is said to have demanded a dozen be kept on hand at all times at Graceland.

*In a GQ article, Melissa Schoor described a Krispy Kreme as "The Appalachian love child of the soufflé and croissant...As warm as a June night in Tennessee, as sweet as a blonde belle, it tumbles effortlessly to the bottom of your stomach."

*A 1950's Krispy Kreme Ring King Jr. machine is in the Smithsonian.

*The humorist Roy Blount once summarized his own take on the Krispy Kreme..."they are to other doughnuts what angels are to people...they're not crispy-creamy so much as right on the cusp between chewy and molten. Kind of like fried nectar puffed up with yeast. No ugh in these doughnuts, unless you eat five."

In 1933, the founder of Krispy Kreme, Vernon Rudolph, purchased a doughnut shop and the rights to a secret doughnut recipe in Paucah, Kentucky. Rudolph and his partners eventually decided to settle in Winston-Salem with $200 in cash, a 1936 Pontiac, some doughnut-making equipment and, of course, the recipe.

With their last $25, Rudolph and company rented a building across from a local college. They removed the back seat of the Pontiac and installed a delivery rack. The rest, as they say, is history.

Today Krispy Kreme makes three million doughnuts a day, more than 1.3 billion a year.

Make sure you check out the Krispy Kreme website, http://www.krispykreme.com, for locations near you.

The copyright of the article Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles in American Fads is owned by Jenna Doscher. Permission to republish Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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