Durango Donut

I've decided that most foods just taste better when made with non-lab-based ingredients. Like flour that's just ground grains (not reconstituted bran, germ and what-all). No dough fillers or oils made into butter and lard substitutes. Even donuts, the epitome of reconstituted, uber-processed food (just look at the ingredient list in a krispy kreme). No, I'm not kidding. It's not just because I was raised on health food. I like junk food just as much as the next dude. Probably more, actually (if you don't count gas station candy that has no chocolate). The best donut I've had since I was 10 years old was not from a donut shop at all, but in the frozen food section at a health food store in Durango, CO. It was glazed apple, made by Nutrilicious. It was soverlicious (if you don't recognize this word, you haven't seen this video clip from Democracy Now).

The aforementioned donut has entirely recognizable ingredients. I let it thaw and discovered that the purchase I made just for irony (sure, with a small hope of real taste) was really it - the first really good donut I've tasted in 16 years.

For those of you who don't know, I have an occasional and minor obsession with donuts. I decided maybe a year or two ago, after having a highly disappointing donut at Santa Cruz's local chain donut shop, that there had to be a good one somewhere - that it was not just my morphed memory of that sugar twist at Puck's donuts in Ashland (which, from my taste buds' point of view, has now joined the mediocre donut shop ranks) that elevated my standard above achievable.

But does this mean my search is over?

It's been about an hour since I swallowed the last morsel (which I had to follow with water to keep from choking - that's how hearty it was). My obsession has, for the moment, abated.

I want to check out the scene at donut shops around the country and see who hangs out there, and write about it. Might as well try the donuts while I'm at it...and I'm sure the sudden craving for fried cake will return as I walk in the shop for ostensibly cultural and journalistic reasons.

Plus, I want to someday make my own donuts.
And, I've not tried what most real donut hounds know is the prime way to sample the day's fried goodness: getting to the shop early in the morning, when the things are fresh. I've been assured by many this is the way to taste donuts.

Stay tuned.