STYLE | Food
Isle of Wight Doughnuts a loca l specia lity By Ja mes R ay ner, author of ‘Historic Isle of Wig ht Food’
Cornwall has pasties, Devon has cream teas and Dorset has knobs - but what about the Isle of Wight? What’s our famous regional speciality?
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ell, at the moment that place is vacant - but for a worthy candidate, my vote certainly goes to the delicious, unique and historic Isle of Wight Doughnut. Also known as nuts, they’ve been made on the Island for hundreds of years, with some claiming they can be traced back to the 17th century. Despite sharing a name with the American doughnut, the Isle of Wight version is completely different and without an ounce of dusted sugar in
sight. Even in Victorian Britain they were little known off the Island with one writer explaining: “Now I fancy you wondering what a doughnut can be; you never tasted one, if this is your first visit here; for doughnuts are peculiar to the Island”. About the size of a cricket ball, Isle of Wight Doughnuts were traditionally filled with small, wild plums and the dough was flavoured with a mixture of allspice, cinnamon, cloves and mace – a historically exotic combination of Asian and Caribbean flavours made
You can find out more about Isle of Wight Doughnuts and other forgotten local specialities in James Rayner’s latest book ‘Historic Isle of Wight Food’, available at independent retailers and bookshops across the Island, as well as online at wightoriginals.com
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possible by the position of Cowes as an international shipping port and customs depot in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were then left to rise by the fire, before being deep fried until golden and drained on clean straw. Later recipes suggest swapping plums for currants and the spice mix for nutmeg to make a convenient alternative but I think the original version is still the best (maybe filled with piped plum jam as an easier update) and certainly well overdue for a revival. more on l i ne at styleof w i g ht.co.u k
