Honey bun

A honey bun is a fried yeast pastry that contains honey and a swirl of cinnamon in the dough and is glazed with icing.[1] Unlike most sweet rolls, which are generally the product of bakeries, honey buns are common convenience store and vending machine fare made by companies like Little Debbie, Hostess and Duchess. Normally sold individually wrapped, alone, or in boxes, they are a snack or grab-and-go breakfast item which can be eaten at cold, hot, or ambient temperatures.[2]

Honey bun
Commercially-prepared honey buns
TypeSweet roll
Place of originUnited States
Region or stateNorth Carolina
Created byHoward Griffin
Main ingredientsHoney, yeast, cinnamon

History

Louis Griffin ran a restaurant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and commissioned his mother Mary Ellen Griffin to make small pies. These became so popular that in 1926, Griffin sold his restaurant and opened a home bakery service in Greensboro, North Carolina to sell small fried pies to local restaurants. In 1929, he expanded further and formed the Griffin Baking Company. Louis' oldest son Nelson Griffin, Sr. joined the company and started the Griffin Pie Co. in Charleston, West Virginia in 1949.[3] They opened factories in West Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and their flagship factory in London, Kentucky. Louis' brother Howard Griffin reportedly developed the honey bun in Greensboro, NC in 1954, and it became a signature product.[4] His nephew Nelson Griffin, Jr. said "In the early 50’s they were making cinnamon rolls. From that, he (Howard) added honey to the ingredients, and eventually developed the first commercial honey bun.[5]" They eventually sold to Flowers Foods in 1983.[6]

Culture

Honey buns are also used as currency in United States prisons, where they are sold from prison commissaries. In the state of Florida, 270,000 are sold per month as of 2010.[7] In a highly publicized instance, honey buns were used by guards in Miami to pay for the beating of a teenager in a youth detention center, resulting in the teen's death. Referring to the case, a public defender was quoted as saying, "In here, a honey bun is like a million dollars."[8]

Flower Foods' London, KY bakery, which can produce almost 60,000 honey buns an hour or about 10 million honey buns per week,[9] has sponsored an annual Honey Bun Day[10] since 2021.[11] The 2023 festival broke the Guinness World Record for most people eating honeybuns at the same time with 777 people.[12]

See also

References
  1. "Honey Buns | Little Debbie". littledebbie.com. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  2. "State: Honey buns - N.C. history with a sweet, sugary glaze". The Stanly News & Press. 2021-03-15. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  3. "Founder of bakery chain, big Laurel County employer, dies". December 18, 2003.
  4. "Honey buns: N.C. History with a sweet, sugary glaze". 7 March 2021.
  5. Slaven, Janie (October 5, 2022). "London to celebrate sweet history of honey bun with attempt at a record". The Sentinel Echo. London, KY. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  6. "Founder of bakery chain, big Laurel County employer, dies". December 18, 2003.
  7. Harwell, Drew (December 31, 2010). "Honey buns sweeten life for Florida prisoners". Tampa Bay Times. Florida. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  8. Miller, Carol. "5 fired at Miami-Dade lockup where teen died in beat-down". Miami Herald. Miami, Florida. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  9. Johnson, Nita (November 15, 2019). "90 YEARS IN THE BAKING: London's Flowers Bakery produces millions of honey buns, donuts and more each week". The Sentinel Echo. London, KY. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  10. "JOIN US AS WE CELEBRATE LONDON'S HONEY BUN HISTORY WITH A DELICIOUS HONEY BUN DAY EVENT!". London-Laurel County Tourist Commission. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  11. Johnson, Nita (August 5, 2021). "New, returning events coming to Laurel; Homecoming, carnival, Honey Bun Day and World Chicken Festival set". The Sentinel Echo. London, KY. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  12. Massengill, Dustin (October 8, 2023). "London's Honey Bun Day breaks world record". FOX 56 WDKY. Lexington, KY. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
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