A hot day at the Elkhart County 4-H Fair today for kids day. All the rides were only one dollar each. And while the rides are great what is a fair without the food? You know all the staples, cotton candy, corn dogs, funnel cakes. And of course a whole lot of fried food.
The food vendors at the fair are always trying to come up with something new. In the past, they've had fried candy bars and even a fried stick of butter. This year a new item is deep fried bubble gum. Yes, deep fried bubble gum.
You can't visit the fair without getting some food. Adrian Torres said, "I had some hamburgers earlier." But burgers seems so blah next to all the other creations being served up this year at the Elkhart County 4-H Fair. They've got giant Amish donuts, bacon elephant ears, red velvet funnel cake, German chocolate funnel cake, cotton candy sundaes, and bacon banana splits
All sounds pretty good right? How does deep fried bubblegum sound? "Really disgusting," said Louis Macon.
But if you're adventurous enough to try it you'll change your mind. After Macon tasted the deep fried treat he said, "It was really good."
But where did the idea even come from to fry gum? Pence's is making the treats. They're a family run business and Manager Leslie Herrington said at all their family get togethers they brainstorm about fair food. "I have 8 nieces and nephews and kids of my own and they start throwing out some crazy ideas out. One of them suggested bubblegum. We thought we'd try it and it tasted pretty good," said Herrington.
So what goes into making deep fried bubble gum? Well first you start with some pieces of the pink chewy stuff. Then they are dipped in batter, but not just any batter, this is a sweet batter.
"It's a combination of our deep fried kool aid with a combination of our bubblegum in the middle of it," said Herrington. Then into the fryer it goes. When it's done it's topped with pink cotton candy sugar.
And Adrian Torres said it tastes, "just like bubblegum." Unlike regular bubble gum though, you don't keep chewing this stuff. You eat it. "It was soft and just kinda melted in my mouth," said Macon.
