Johnny Appleseed: The Man Behind the Legend & Apple Cider Doughnuts

Picture Johnny Appleseed, and a familiar character probably comes to mind: a barefoot wanderer in ragged clothes, perhaps wearing a cooking pot for a hat, cheerfully scattering apple seeds wherever he goes.

It's one of those stories many Americans encounter as children.

And, unlike many folk heroes, Johnny Appleseed really existed.

His name was John Chapman, and he really did travel through parts of the American frontier planting apples.

But the apples weren't necessarily the sweet, crisp kind we'd pack in a lunchbox today. Chapman was also more businessman than aimless wanderer, establishing nurseries ahead of settlers and returning to tend them. And many of the apples grown from seed were much better suited to something other than eating.

Cider.

The real story behind Johnny Appleseed is a little less sugary than the legend—but considerably more interesting.

Who Was Johnny Appleseed?

John Chapman was born in Leominster, Massachusetts, in 1774. By the early 1800s, he was planting apple nurseries as settlement expanded westward.

Chapman traveled through areas including Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, planting seeds and establishing orchards. He often worked ahead of the expanding frontier, creating nurseries that could later supply arriving settlers.

That makes our familiar image of Johnny Appleseed scattering seeds somewhat misleading.

He wasn't simply throwing apple seeds over his shoulder and hoping for the best.

Chapman planted nurseries, cared for them, and could sell trees to settlers. Planting orchards also had practical value on the frontier, where cultivating fruit trees could help demonstrate that land was being permanently settled and improved.

In other words, Johnny Appleseed wasn't merely a folk hero.

He was a nurseryman.

And a rather clever one.

His Apples Weren't Grocery Store Apples

Here's where the Johnny Appleseed story gets particularly interesting.

If you plant a seed from your favorite apple, you shouldn't expect the resulting tree to produce the same kind of apple.

A Honeycrisp seed, for example, won't reliably grow into a tree producing Honeycrisp apples. To reproduce a particular apple variety, growers generally use techniques such as grafting.

Chapman, however, grew his trees from seed.

That meant his orchards produced enormous genetic variety—and many of the resulting apples weren't particularly pleasant to eat.

They could be small, sour, bitter, or otherwise very different from the sweet apples we expect today.

But that didn't make them useless.

Far from it.

They were often just right for cider.

The Cider Connection

Today, when Americans hear "apple cider," we might picture the cloudy, sweet, nonalcoholic drink sold at farm stands every fall.

For early Americans, cider often meant something fermented.

Hard cider was a common part of life in colonial America and on the frontier. Apples that weren't particularly appealing for eating could be pressed, and the resulting juice could be fermented.

That made an orchard useful even if its trees didn't produce beautiful dessert apples.

So when Chapman planted seedling after seedling across the frontier, he wasn't necessarily creating orchards filled with future pie apples.

He was planting something settlers could turn into cider.

That detail largely disappeared from the children's-book version of Johnny Appleseed.

How John Chapman Became Johnny Appleseed

The historical Chapman was already an unusual and memorable figure.

He traveled extensively, lived simply, and became known for his religious beliefs as well as his apple nurseries. Stories about him circulated during and after his lifetime, gradually blurring the line between biography and folklore.

Eventually, John Chapman became Johnny Appleseed, a symbol of generosity, simplicity, nature, and the American frontier.

Popular culture helped cement that image.

One particularly influential version arrived in 1948, when Walt Disney's animated film Melody Time included a Johnny Appleseed segment. Its cheerful, gentle Johnny helped reinforce the children's-story version of the character for generations of Americans.

The legend isn't entirely fiction.

Chapman really did carry apple seeds. He really did plant orchards across the frontier. And he apparently lived an unconventional life.

It's what happened around those facts that turned history into folklore.

From Hard Cider to Cider Doughnuts

Our recipe takes Johnny's cider connection in a sweeter—and decidedly more modern—direction.

Apple cider doughnuts have become one of the great pleasures of an autumn orchard visit.

They're tender, warmly spiced, and coated in cinnamon sugar, with concentrated apple cider providing a subtle fruity flavor.

The doughnut itself also has a long American history. The word “dough-nut” appeared in American writing by the early 19th century, and Washington Irving described balls of sweetened fried dough in his 1809 History of New York. The familiar ring shape came later; a popular tradition credits Maine sailor Hansen Gregory with devising a hole in the center to help fried cakes cook more evenly, though the precise history is difficult to establish with certainty.

For our fall version, we're adding another piece of American food history to the mix: apples.

Let's make some doughnuts.

Old-Fashioned Apple Cider Doughnuts

These homemade apple cider doughnuts are lightly crisp on the outside and tender inside, with cinnamon, nutmeg, and concentrated cider giving them plenty of fall flavor. A generous coating of cinnamon sugar finishes them while they're still warm.

Ingredients

For the Doughnuts

• 1 1/2 cups apple cider
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• Neutral vegetable oil, for frying

For the Cinnamon-Sugar Coating

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Reduce the cider.

Pour the apple cider into a small saucepan and bring it to a gentle boil over medium-high heat.

Reduce the heat and simmer until the cider has reduced to approximately 1/2 cup, about 15–20 minutes.

Reducing the cider concentrates its flavor, giving the finished doughnuts more apple character without adding too much liquid to the dough.

Set the reduced cider aside and allow it to cool completely.

2. Mix the dry ingredients.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt.

Set aside.

3. Make the dough.

In a large bowl, beat the softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until well combined and slightly fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Mix in the vanilla.

Add the cooled cider reduction and buttermilk and mix until combined.

Gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing just until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms.

Avoid overmixing, which can make the finished doughnuts tough.

4. Chill.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour.

Chilling makes the soft dough easier to roll and cut.

5. Prepare the cinnamon sugar.

While the dough chills, combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and pinch of salt in a shallow bowl.

Set aside.

6. Roll and cut the doughnuts.

Lightly flour a work surface.

Turn out the chilled dough and gently roll or pat it until it's approximately 1/2-inch thick.

Using a 3-inch doughnut cutter, cut out the doughnuts and their centers.

No doughnut cutter? Use a round biscuit or cookie cutter for the outside and a much smaller cutter for the center.

Gather the scraps and gently reroll them once to cut additional doughnuts. Avoid repeatedly working the dough.

7. Heat the oil.

Pour about 2–3 inches of neutral oil into a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven.

Heat the oil to 350°F.

A kitchen thermometer is especially useful here. If the oil is too cool, the doughnuts can absorb excess oil. If it's too hot, the outside may brown before the center cooks.

8. Fry the doughnuts.

Carefully lower 2 or 3 doughnuts into the hot oil, making sure not to crowd the pot.

Fry for approximately 1–2 minutes per side, turning once, until the doughnuts are puffed and deep golden brown.

The smaller doughnut holes will cook more quickly.

Transfer the cooked doughnuts to a wire rack or paper-towel-lined baking sheet.

Allow the oil to return to 350°F between batches.

9. Coat with cinnamon sugar.

While the doughnuts are still warm—but cool enough to handle—toss each one in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Coat both sides generously.

Then, if you're capable of such restraint, wait a few minutes before eating one.

Baker's Tip: Concentrate That Cider

Don't skip the cider-reduction step.

Simply adding more cider to dough can make it too wet without delivering the strong apple flavor you're looking for. Simmering the cider removes some of its water and concentrates its flavor.

For even more apple character, look for fresh, unfiltered cider from a local orchard or farm stand.

Frying Tips for Better Doughnuts

• Keep an eye on the temperature. Try to maintain the oil at approximately 350°F.
• Don't overcrowd the pot. Adding too many doughnuts at once lowers the oil temperature.
• Use neutral oil. Vegetable, canola, or another neutral frying oil allows the cider and spices to remain the stars.
• Coat them while warm. Cinnamon sugar sticks best shortly after the doughnuts leave the fryer.
• Eat them fresh. Like most fried doughnuts, apple cider doughnuts are at their best the day they're made.

Apple Lore

• Johnny Appleseed had a real name. John Chapman was born in Massachusetts in 1774 and became a nurseryman on the American frontier.
• He didn't simply scatter seeds at random. Chapman established apple nurseries and worked ahead of expanding settlement.
• His apples weren't necessarily good for snacking. Because Chapman grew trees from seed, the resulting fruit varied enormously and was often better suited to cider than eating.
• Cider was a major part of early American apple culture. Fermented cider gave otherwise unappealing apples an important use.
• Pop culture helped shape the Johnny we remember. Disney's 1948 Melody Time contributed to the cheerful folk-hero image familiar to generations of children.

A Legend With Roots

Johnny Appleseed turns out to be the perfect character for apple season because his story contains a little bit of everything: history, agriculture, entrepreneurship, folklore, and a healthy dose of mythmaking.

John Chapman planted real seeds in real soil.

Americans planted the rest of the story.

Over generations, the nurseryman became the folk hero, the frontier cider apple became the shiny red fruit of children's illustrations, and Johnny Appleseed became almost inseparable from the American apple itself.

And that's something apples seem particularly good at doing—collecting meanings that have little to do with the fruit itself.

In Part 3 of Apple Season, we're heading to the classroom to investigate another familiar image: the apple on the teacher's desk.

Why do we associate apples with teachers? Did students really bring them to school? And how did a simple piece of fruit become shorthand for education itself?

We'll explore the story while making a cozy old-fashioned apple cake, filled with tender apples and warm fall spices.