Every September, hundreds of thousands of fair-goers flock to West Springfield to ring in the fall season with innovative food options, carnival rides, live entertainment and more, at New England’s biggest fair — The Big E.
This year, MassLive made rounds sampling anything from Glazed Donut Coffee Floats, to revamped Craz-E Burgers stuffed with bacon cheeseburgers between two doughnuts.
But we couldn’t just stop there, could we?
One food item we had to try before leaving was the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto Corn from Mexican Style Street Corn.
This concoction features warm, fresh-roasted, sweet-corn doused in spicy mayo and a thick coating of Flamin’ Hot Cheeto crumbs.
While some of our staffers “don’t do spicy,” for those of us who do, this treat was one we’d get again.
For $11, we’d say it’s worth it.
The experience
Taste
We opted for the corn on the cob, but if you prefer to have it served off the cob, you can get kernels in a cup with mayonnaise and Cheeto crumbs just the same.
The corn itself is well-roasted and sweet, which complements the spicy elements of the Cheetos and mayonnaise nicely.
Even if you aren’t a big fan of flavors that have “a little bite” to them, this option is a happy medium as the mayonnaise really isn’t all that spicy, and actually helps mellow out the heat of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
The mayo gave it a kind of tangy quality but wasn’t a robust or loud flavor.
To our surprise, it actually functioned as a neutralizer of sorts, adding that buffer between the spice of the Cheetos and sweetness of the corn.
It just made sense.
Texture
Because it’s roasted corn and not boiled, the kernels didn’t ‘pop’ when you bit into them which was a plus for this style of corn, especially given that the moisture would have clashed with the mayo.
It was more of a dry, (but not dried out) corn with a bit of a smokey flavor.
As for the mayo, it functioned more as a flavor than a texture but still added that moisture needed to balance out the Cheeto crumbs.
The crumbs themselves were finely ground and had a sort of bread crumb-like quality.
It was a light, smooth coating.
Practical?
It was also easy to eat and not as messy as you might assume based on how it looks.
Seeing that it’s covered in Cheeto dust, you might think crumbs would flake off and make a mess of you but that’s not the case.
The mayonnaise really holds those crumbs on there.
Some foods you may find yourself scrounging for a place to sit because your food is melting, spilling over the top of your dish, or just messy for some other reason but that’s not a problem with the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto Corn.
The only critique we had of this option is that it can be almost too much mayo in some spots.
Other than that, it is something we’d get again.
Final rating: 7/10
