Milk Maid
My favorite event of the year is near. “The Great Minnesota Get Together” begins this Thursday! The Minnesota State Fair is one of my all-time favorite places to be.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the Minneota area 4-H and FFA members do in their competitions. I know the family that is the official dairy herd for the year at the state fair and I’m excited to see their string.
They have even recruited one of my brothers to come help them out. I’m also looking forward to how my open class animals compete and I’m anxious to see who is crowned the next Princess Kay of the Milky Way.
There’s just some sort of magic in the air at the Minnesota State Fair. What’s another thing that’s in the air at the fair?
Food. Many different smells and sights of food. And a lot of it.
Every year at the beginning of the summer, the state fair releases their list of new foods and vendors.
This year, there are 27 new foods and five new food vendors.
The new foods are: Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl, Bananas Foster French Toast, BBQ Split, Blueberry Rhubarb Cobbler, Earth Wings, Firecracker Shrimp Stuffed Avocado, General Tso Chicken Taco, Honey Cream Soda Float, Irish Tater Kegs, Mangonada Shave Ice, Messy Giuseppe, Moroccan Sausage Bowl, Nordic Waffles, Pepperoni Chips with Roasted Red Pepper Queso, Rainbow Cloud Roll, Shrimp Ceviche, Slider Flights, Smoked Soft Serve Ice Cream, Swedish Meatball Smorgas, Sweet Greek Cheese Puffs, Sweetie Cakes, Triple Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake, Turducken Sausage Sandwich, UpNorth Puff Pastry, Wood-Grilled Elote, Za-Waffle Sticks and Zesty PB&J Sausage.
Midwest Dairy is offering a new flavor of sundaes and malts called, “That’s S’more Like it!”
The five new vendors are: The Anchor Coffee House, The Hangar, Midtown Global Market’s Mama D’s, Midtown Global Market’s Taco Cat and Nordic Waffles. The Minnesota State Fair website has photos and descriptions of each of the new foods and vendors.
Many of them look delicious! If you are headed to the state fair, the official state fair app has a food finder that can help you find whatever your heart, or stomach, desires while you’re at the fair. While at the fair, I always find there is so much food and so little time.
I have to check out my favorites like pizza on a stick or Sweet Martha’s Cookies before trying something new.
As a personal rule, I always try something new every year. Sometimes they’re winners, sometimes they’re not. But it’s fun to try! Looking at the list of new foods, I definitely want to try Midwest Dairy’s new sundae flavor.
I also really want to try the Smoked Soft Serve Ice Cream.
While everything looks really good, I want to check out the new Nordic Waffles.
They are fresh-made waffle wraps in seven varieties and the varieties I’d like to try is the S’More and All-Day Breakfast. The Sweet Greek Cheese Puffs, which are flaky phyllo dough filled with feta and ricotta cheese, deep-fried, drizzled with honey and topped with powdered sugar, also make my must try list.
If I can talk someone into sharing with me, the Turducken Sausage Sandwich looks interesting too. It’s a blend of turkey, duck and chicken served on a fennel bun and accompanied by a side of Giggles’ sweet and saucy relish.
It’s a very good thing that the state fairgrounds are so large and that there’s a lot of walking involved to help balance out all the food! Good luck to everyone competing at the state fair!