A sneak peek at some of the new food and drink options at this year’s State Fair

The Wisconsin State Fair is right around the corner, and with it comes dozens of new food and drink items set to debut this year.

The fair, which opens on Aug. 1 and runs through Aug. 11, is set to feature 100 new food items, including drinks with bug garnishes, new twists on lemonade, bacon hot dogs and Doritos-coated fried pickles.

Shari Black is the CEO of the Wisconsin State Fair. She says she’s eager to try a dish that combines two Wisconsin classics.

“I am very excited about the beer cheese and brat spud muffin,” Black told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “It’s kind of a fun creative take on the potato pancake. So it’s those hash brown potatoes with some infused beer cheese and brats mixed in. And they put it in a little muffin tin. I’m really excited to try it. I think that sounds amazing.”

Black joined the show to give a sneak preview of this year’s fair.

The following was edited for clarity and brevity.

Rob Ferrett: What are some of the other exciting new additions this year?

Shari Black: Well, there is a funnel cake root beer battered cheese curd that I think sounds amazing. It’s white cheddar curds, covered in funnel cake with a root beer batter and then it’s deep fried and topped with powdered sugar.

Another item that kind of jumped out at me — I don’t know that I’m going to try it — bug juice. It’s green juice that has ice cubes in it that have real bugs in them. So as your ice cube melts, it will release that bug into your drink so those will all float up to the top. The rim is also dipped in caramel and then black ants are put on top. When I first saw the picture, I thought it was cookie crumbs — but it is not, it’s black ants. And then they garnish it with a scorpion.

RF: We’ve got to talk about cream puffs. I understand this is the 100th anniversary of the cream puff at the State Fair. How is the fair celebrating?

SB: We are doing some limited flavors. This has never been done before during the fair. We did some specialty cream puffs throughout the year that were more holiday-themed but for the first time we are going to tackle this for the fair. 

We are offering a root beer float flavor, a raspberry cheesecake, an English toffee and chocolate birthday cake. But there’s a caveat to all of this. So you need to go on our website to look at the calendar. We have the dates of when each one is available — like root beer float is only available Aug. 2 and 3. 

The other thing is we are only selling 1,924 of these special cream puffs each day. Let’s say you really want that English toffee — you need to either come Aug. 7, 8 or 9 And you’re going to want to get here early and get in line so you can be one of the lucky ones.

RF: It seems to me that, over the years, the food has gotten to be more and more creative, inventive or elaborate. You’ve been with the State Fair for a few years, the Waukesha County Fair for years before that. Has the food scene changed at our fairs?

SB: I think that it used to be a joke that you wanted (to eat) something on a stick, because then you could walk around and continue eating it. But our vendors have gotten creative in the way that they either make the food or the utensils that we are able to use now — or now they have the little boats that they can put the food items in. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be on a stick anymore. 

We all get a little over indulgent at the fair, because you don’t get to eat this type of food all year round — or at least you shouldn’t, because it’s not good for you. These are the 11 days that calories don’t count.