The Doughnut Maker

While too early to pick corn or soybeans, September is prime time to visit a local apple orchard and enjoy the sweet taste of Galas, Goldens, and Red Delicious apples.  For many years it was our family tradition to visit the orchard and ride on a horse drawn wagon to pick a bushel of apples.  After the picking, we would retreat to the apple barn to enjoy a bag of hot apple cider doughnuts which were bathed in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.   I would be hard pressed to choose whether the aroma of french fries at McDonald's  or the mouth watering fragrance of hot apple cider doughnuts is the most tantalizing.

My photo was taken through a screened window separating the doughnut kitchen from rest at the apple barn.  (Placed there to prevent customers from rushing the doughnut maker, no doubt.)  How mesmerizing it was to watch the hopper sway side to side dropping perfectly formed donut batter into the cooking oil while the newly created doughnuts marched side by side down the cooking line like toy soldiers on parade.  At the mid point the doughnuts perform an about face as they are turned to their opposite side creating that crispy outer layer housing that soft, melt in your mouth center.  This parade goes on all day throughout the weekend dropping out 57 dozen an hour. If only my camera could capture the scent of frying doughnuts along with the image!  Scratch and sniff photos could be the new frontier in photography.

(As a nod to Ms Studebaker, my for English teacher, I have chosen to spell donuts the way she would have embraced.)