Blechtacular

Texas Chef Introduces World to Fried Bubblegum

Is that toothpaste he's squeezing over the top?
Is that toothpaste he’s squeezing over the top?

It wouldn’t be state fair season without new and wacky ideas for frying things. The latest: fried bubblegum. This blechtacular dish, which won a contest for concessionaires at the Texas State Fair, comes to us from chef Justin Martinez, but as he explains to the Star-Telegram, it isn’t exactly what it sounds like. Martinez dips marshmallows in a pink bubblegum “extract,” and then fries them — because no one needs a lump of indigestible gum lodged in their guts for years.

Martinez had previously tried and failed to impress the judges in this same contest with fried jellybeans, but this year’s idea — which he garnishes with some kind of green goo that looks toothpaste — won top honors. The deep-fried bubblegum beat out other finalists including a fried, flapjack-wrapped buffalo chicken thing; deep-fried pineapple upside-down cake; and something called Hans’s Kraut Balls — sauerkraut and pork sausage rolled into a ball and, you guessed it, deep-fried.

Watch, and try to keep down your lunch.


Fried fair food gets a little crazier; how about fried bubble gum? [KSBY via Gawker]
State Fair Honors Deep Fried Delights [Star-Telegram]

Texas Chef Introduces World to Fried Bubblegum