🍎 The Holy (cider doughnut) Bible

It’s Wednesday, Boston.

🌮 It’s also National Taco Day. If you’re a glutton for punishment, you can buy Taco Bell’s $10 “Taco Lovers Pass” today, which entitles you to a taco a day for 30 consecutive days. Or, keep the celebrations to just today with local deals at Rosa Mexicano and Loco Taqueria.

🥳 Also: HBD to B-Side reader Melissa Astorga. You da best.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Fall ferry service comeback

• The Green Line’s new look

• Pumpkin Head of the Charles

Up first …

TELEPHONE TAG

The anatomy of a cider doughnut

Is it the cider? The fry? The cinnamon-to-sugar ratio? What really makes the perfect apple cider doughnut?

On this month’s edition of small business telephone tag, we asked four local apple orchards whose cider doughnuts they’re eating — when they’re not eating their own — and what keeps them coming back for more.

Here’s what they said:

🍎 Red Apple Farm at Boston Public Market loves Cider Hill Farm in Amesbury. Red Apple Farm’s retail manager Matthew Shea is a sucker for ACDs from smaller farms like Cider Hill. “They have a nice fluffy dough, are full of flavor,” and get a little crisp on the outside, he said. But the key to their superb doughnut recipe is the freshly pressed cider, which surprisingly, not every farm includes. Apples in season change throughout the fall, meaning the cider’s flavor profile changes, too, he said. And those flavors, while subtle, ultimately come through in the doughnut.

🍯 Cider Hill Farm loves Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stowe. “I feel like theirs is a thicker doughnut. You get a real good biteful,” said general manager Jenny Durocher. “They’ve got that perfect cinnamon sugar mix. Slightly on the cakier side, but in a good way.” And getting that perfect bite is an “operational feat” for local farms, she said, especially when you’re trying to get thousands of people a warm doughnut on a crisp fall day. Her advice for securing the perfect cider doughnut? Hit the orchard during off-peak hours.

🍓 Honey Pot Hill Orchards loves Tougas Farm in Northborough. “People ask, do you get sick of them? I’m like no, they’re delicious.” Honey Pot Hill general manager Chelcie Martin will never pass up a good ACD, especially the ones from Tougas Farm, which are bigger and cakier than Honey Pot’s. But for Martin, the real star of the show are Tougas’ strawberry doughnuts in June. They have the look and feel of a cider doughnut, but are “a little red inside with the aftertaste of fresh strawberries.”

😋 Tougas Farm loves Parlee Farms in Tyngsborough. “We all eat with our eyes and nose first,” general manager Andre Tougas said. Which is exactly why Tougas makes their doughnuts “right in the middle of the farm,” so you can smell them everywhere (they cranked out over 14,000 on Sunday). His ideal doughnut is the “perfect shade of beige brown” with a bubbly, crispy outside and a soft, cakey inside. If it’s got extra cinnamon, even better. And Parlee’s mini ACDs are not only adorable, but also tick most of Tougas’ boxes.

🍩 But! But! But! These spots are just verses in the Holy Cider Doughnut Bible. If you want the full picture, look at this map made by self-proclaimed doughnut reviewer Alex Schwartz that lists every shop in New England.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

⛴️ Getting around the Boston area just got a little easier. To accommodate the hordes of people heading to Salem’s Haunted Happenings this month, the MBTA announced plans to have two Commuter Rail trains running to and from the city every hour on the weekends (you can find the schedule here). Plus, due to popular demand, the three new ferry services piloted this summer will continue through the fall. Ferry service from Lynn will run through October, and service from East Boston and Winthrop will continue until Nov. 30.

🍷 There might be more liquor licenses to go around in Boston. A new bill could introduce over 250 new liquor licenses to neighborhoods where sit-down restaurants are sparse, like Roxbury, Roslindale, Mattapan, and East Boston. The bills’ supporters, who testified Monday on Beacon Hill, say that they would bring greater opportunity to entrepreneurs in largely Black/Latino communities in a system that privileges wealthy neighborhoods. But don’t expect any changes ASAP; the bill still has to go through a few committees before a final vote.

🚃 The Green Line may be 3 mph, but at least it looks cool. The MBTA is asking for our help to decide the color scheme on the new Green Line train cars, set to pilot in 2026. The cars will be more modern (and more chic), with enhanced technology, wider door openings, and low-floor boarding. The color options are all pretty standard, with varying ratios of gray and dark green. Personally, I prefer option one, but I’ll take any car that can get me from point A to point B without breaking down or catching on fire. You can see the designs here.

👻 A haunted Boston hotel is one of the best in the world. At least that’s according to Condé Nast Traveler readers. The Liberty, formerly the infamous Charles Street Jail, came in at No. 19 on the publication’s Readers’ Choice list of best hotels in the world. Some describe it as a beautifully designed luxury hotel with sweeping views, while others (local ghost tours) describe it as one of the most haunted buildings in Boston due to the building’s dark history. But judging by the 4.4-star Google reviews, it doesn’t seem like travelers have much to worry about.

— Written by Gia Orsino

POP QUIZ!

💰 Guess roughly how much a night at The Liberty costs this weekend?

ONE LAST THING

Pumpkin Head of the Charles

Own a forklift or know how to defy the laws of buoyancy? You could make this Cambridge man’s dream come true.

A call for help on Reddit asked Cantabrigians to aid user Benjamin621 in achieving his “life’s dream”: rowing a giant pumpkin down the Charles. He claims to have saved up enough money to purchase a giant pumpkin, but now needs a forklift to transport it, at nearly 1,000 pounds, from the farm to the river on Oct. 14.

Benjamin promises any benevolent forklift owner the chance to ride in the pumpkin boat (!) but is also seeking general advice about his endeavor. While I can’t attest to the validity of his mission, I can attest to the fact that riding in that giant pumpkin boat sounds awesome.

Please let us know if you offer this person a forklift.

— Written by Gia Orsino

🥺 Thanks for reading! The replies on this thread are so wholesome. We’ll make this happen, Benjamin!

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