A Hell of a Mess...

Diary of a (two-month old) donut

For the first time since I opened the box in the beginning of February and took pictures, I opened the box again and took more pictures.  This time, the donuts are sixty-one days old -- but they look remarkably like they did last month.

It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but the major difference between the donuts from now and from last month (aside from more flaking of the icing) is that the icing is starting to get a little darker.  It's still pretty white, as you can see from the closeup, but it's darkening a bit.

Note that the donuts are still in my car.  They don't smell bad or anything, which is a good thing.  It's been cold enough here most days that they stay cool most of the time, and don't have the chance to do anything nasty.  That isn't going to last forever, though, so we'll see how the warmth affects them.

They just won't be in my car when that happens, that's all.

The (thirty-six) day-old donut

The donuts I purchased on January 2 -- solely for the purpose of this experiment -- have been in my car since that day.  This was the day that I pulled out the camera and took photos of them for the first time.  Note that you can click on each picture to get a larger picture to pop up.

I actually checked on them about two weeks ago, and they had all shrunk.  Each of them had lost about an inch of diameter, likely due to the cold we had here in Nevada.  (In fact, there was a period of time where the temperature didn't rise above freezing for close to 10 days.)  Now that the weather has warmed again, though, the donuts are close to their normal size.  You can tell, though, that they shrunk when you look at them close up:

When the donuts shrank, the icing lifted away from the donut, leaving a protective shell that is no longer coating the surface.  It's flaked off the edges on some of them, but many of the donuts have their shell completely intact.

The upshot of it being so cold?  Stale donuts don't have a chance to turn nasty and start stinking.  Now that the weather's getting warmer, though, I'll have to think of some other place to store them.

The experiment begins...

I mentioned several days ago that I was going to begin a science experiment on Monday.  I actually didn't start it until yesterday afternoon, but in the grand scheme of things, one day isn't going to make a difference.

You may have noticed that the category of this post is entitled "Diary of a Donut."  That's exactly what it sounds like -- I've purchased some heavily glazed donuts from Krispy Kreme, and I'm going to see how well they fare over time.  Once a month, I'll check back with a report and pictures.  (No, I'm not going to eat them.)

The inspiration of this experiment is twofold:

1) My friend Steph has told me of an unfortunate incident involving Taco Bell at the University of South Carolina.  It seems that someone left a Chalupa outdoors, and no one touched it.  For weeks.

During this time, nothing happened.  It apparently didn't decompose, wasn't eaten by bugs, or anything.  It looked like it had just been left.  Anyone who had seen it over that time, though, knew better.

2) I fully realize that the average glazed Krispy Kreme donut is not laden with the amount of preservative that the Chalupa is.  What it does have, though, is a thick coat of sugar that should protect the entirety of the donut.  (If you've ever been to a Krispy Kreme, you know what I mean.)

I've always wondered how well the sugar coating would protect the donut over time.  The problem, however, is that donuts don't seem to last long around my house or office.  Not this time.  The donuts are sitting in their box in my car right now -- where they will stay until I find a more suitable container and a good spot in the garage. 

(If they're going to stink, I don't want it to be in my car come July.)

Pictures are to follow of the donuts at their beginning.  I'll post them in the next couple of days -- I think.