Fried Kool-Aid is the newest of favored fried foods for sale at state fairs this summer, but maybe the usual fried "Zucchini Weeni," a hot dog wrapped in zucchini and dipped in batter, is more your speed.
By Gregory Bull, AP
Bennett Perry of San Diego bites into a fried Kool-Aid ball at the County Fair in Del Mar, Calif. The crispy balls with their red-hot insides are a big seller.
At the San Diego County Fair, where fried Kool-Aid made its debut June 10, entrepreneur "Chicken" Charlie Boghosian, 42, tries to come up with new and unusual fried foods to add to his menu every year.
To make the newest treat, Boghosian creates a thick batter with Kool-Aid drink powder and uses an ice cream scoop to drop balls of the mix into the fryer. An order of six or seven costs $5.95.
"Quite a few people wanted me to tell them the exact recipe, but I won't tell," Boghosian says. "I have not heard anyone who has tried it and hasn't loved it. It tastes just like the drink, only you are eating it."
Boghosian is one of many entrepreneurs frying up unusual things.
•The Minnesota State Fair has deep-fried spaghetti and meatballs, bacon cheddar mashed potatoes and bologna, all on a stick.
•Spam's online recipe exchange has a suggestions for ways to eat fried Spam.
•Legoland sells fried granny smith apples called "Granny's Apple Fries."
•Deep-fried lattes, colas, peanut butter, beer and even deep-fried butter have won awards at the Texas State Fair's Big Tex Choice Awards.
"It's not the most healthy thing for you, but people have come to expect fun food at fairs and fun food is fried food," says Mark Zable, who calls himself the "inventor of fried beer."
Zable, 40, of Plano, Texas, fills pretzel dough with liquid beer and deep fries it. "Fried Kool-Aid is Kool-Aid-flavored dough balls," he says. "If I was going to fry a liquid, I actually wanted it to be a liquid."
Whatever the technique, Boghosian knows the deep-fry approach sells.
"The first thing I invented was the deep-fried Oreo cookie," he says. "I have sold over 2 million cookies since that time. … We have sold over 500 pounds of Kool-Aid mix and thousands of pounds of flour."
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