Fried Coke

I know I've had a lot of posts about the State Fair of Texas lately, and I apologize. I intend to stop talking about it right after this Reuters article. The Fair is well known as a place for innovative foods - the corndog was invented there you know - but they often go too far, as was the case with Fried Oreos last year.

A new fast food is making its debut at U.S. fairs this fall -- fried Coke.

Abel Gonzales, 36, a computer analyst from Dallas, tried about 15 different varieties before coming up with his perfect recipe -- a batter mix made with Coca-Cola syrup, a drizzle of strawberry syrup, and some strawberries.

Balls of the batter are then deep-fried, ending up like ping-pong ball sized doughnuts which are then served in a cup, topped with Coca-Cola syrup, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry on the top.

"It tastes great," said Sue Gooding, a spokeswoman for the State Fair of Texas where Gonzales' fried Coke made its debut this fall. "It was a huge success."

Gonzales ran two stands at the State Fair of Texas and sold up to 35,000 fried Cokes over 24 days for $4.50 each -- and won a prize for coming up with "most creative" new fair food.

Now other fairs in North Carolina and Arizona are following the trend, and other people are trying to emulate Gonzales' recipe.

I didn't try the Fried Coke, but I did see people lined up to get some. I asked a couple of random fairgoers how they liked it, and they weren't exactly waxing poetic about it. "It's OK I guess" was their response.