The Hibiscus Doughnut: Way Better Than Fried Kool-Aid

At the County Fair in San Diego, chef Charlie Boghosian decided to fry an unlikely American classic: Kool-Aid. The deep-fried balls of Kool-Aid are made from dropping ice cream sized scoops of sweet dough mixed with Kool-Aid powder into a deep-fryer.

"I tried it at home one time, and the very first time I took a bite, I could really taste the flavor of the cherry Kool-Aid," said Boghosian. “I thought, this is gonna go really well in San Diego.”

A video of the Fried Kool-Aid being made has gone viral - the topic of countless Facebook threads, tweets and blog posts.

Throwing different foods in the deep-fryer has always been a fun experiment, but how often are they actually tasty? I’ve heard of fried Snickers, fried Oreos, fried cheesecake, even a fried PB&J, but since I haven’t tried any of them I can’t say whether they taste good or not.

But here in Bed-Stuy, we are not about to be outdone by fried Kool-Aid on the opposite coast. In our own neighborhood, we’ve got the Hibiscus Doughnut from , a delectable, albeit extremely odd, dessert that can only be found on the corner of Franklin and Lafayette Avenues (oh, and sometimes at the ).

The Hibiscus Doughnut is made from dried hibiscus flower leaves that come from a Mexican purveyor. The leaves are then soaked overnight, and boiled down. The leftover liquid is used to flavor and color the glaze (a pretty pink) and the leaves are then dried and sweetened to be placed on top of each doughnut.

This is one of the most popular doughnut flavors at Dough, a business that opened up back in January and has been flourishing ever since. 

This video includes the process of making the Hibiscus Doughnut, along with a brief interview with pastry chef Bettina Gronning. Featured in the video making the doughnuts is Tougouma Aziz and Compaore Assane, two chefs at Dough.

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