San Diablo Artisan Churros Bring a Classic Mexican Street Food Indoors

 (Gerry Furth-Sides)  You may have already guessed it already: snack food has become the fastest growing item in sales and online delivery  these days.  The surprise is that while wonderfully crowded street life is at a minimum, innovative companies are bringing historic street food snacks indoors

Churros, one of the most popular, classic sweet street snacks, is a wonderful example of why snacks would be the biggest growing segment of the retail food industry. And snack developers are keeping right in step with evolving not only manufactured snacks but ones that are” finished off” at home and have even included learning activities.

There are many versions about the origins of the churro, starting with world-traveling Portuguese merchants in China first tasting d youtaio, strips of golden fried salty delicacies in the same shape.  They remain a breakfast favorite.  The Cantonese dialect preceded the supernatural name: yàuhjagwái (油炸鬼), which literally translates to “oil-fried-devil” (or ghost).  A recipe with video is provided below from The Woks of Life.

Meanwhile the Portuguese added sugar to their new version.  Independent of this, Spanish folklore tells the story of shepherds making a pastry with the same shape, frying it by open fire in the mountains.  Their treat resembled resembled the horns from a breed of sheep called the Navajo-Churro, and so they named it after them.

The San Diablo Artisan Churros company, based in Salt Lake City, is a fine example, and have made available churros for you at home, that even include activities around it.  They first specialized making mini artisan-filled churros for special events, parties, and celebrations.   They were an smash success with parties from 20 to 2500.   A truck version and now a home delivery kit have been added, with savory churros and more on the drawing board.

Innovative and charged with energy that appears to electrify every business endeavor he is involved with, Scott Porter was just the guy to do this.  Added to this combination is a passion for all things Mexican.  It began with a love of the culture during his two years as a missionary there during his college years.  I was so impressed when Scott  told me about his “aha” moment that came when he realized he was thinking in Spanish, not English!   He has returned hundreds to times to live (CDMX, Guadalajara and Monterrey), work (consulting and teaching), serve (humanitarian initiatives) and play (leading taco tours and exploring since tacos are another passion).

 In fact, Scott was first motivated to do the churro while interning at a public relations intern in Mexico City.  He tasted his first fresh filled churros in the fashionable neighborhood of Coyoacán, where churros are so popular there there is a stand or two on every corner, and entire stores are dedicated to them.  (A description of the oldest and most popular is below) In his words, “I found that the churros were amazing and unlike anything I’ve ever tried.” He actually felt, he says, “ it would be irresponsible not to bring them to America.”

Inspired by longer street-vendor filled churros in Mexico, the next step was to create artisan handcrafted, mini churros that can be filled with different filling flavors.  This  and easily share mini churro packs with someone special.  Scott explained how San Diablo Artisan Churros differ from typical pre-made churros”   “We make ours from a proprietary, churro dough recipe that has earned awards.  It was inspired by a recipe from a friend’s grandma in Oaxaca, Mexico.  The churros are made from scratch,  then fried to a golden brown on demand at events, and baked off by home consumers in the oven.  While still warm, the hollow-centered churros are filled with the customer’s choice from a list of “traditional” flavors, such as Nutella, sweet cream, and Dulce de Leche,  to specialty “seasonal” flavors, such as peppermint crème, pumpkin cheesecake, coconut cream and raspberry preserve.

The San Diablo team works  a fun element into the juxtaposed “angel” and “devil” elements at events, the name already honoring its Spanish heritage.  And “Insiders” can order from a “secret menu” on which “diablo style” means spicy cayenne cinnamon sugar and expect an even spicier habanero cinnamon sugar with  “Inferno style.”

Churrería El Moro is by far the most popular churrería in Mexico’s capital and the oldest, established in 1935 by former Spaniard, Francisco Irarte.  El Moro began as  a small churro cart in the Zócalo, or city center is open 24/7 for churros, dipping sauces and hot chocolates.

Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas 42, Centro Histórico de la Cdad. de México, Centro, Cuauhtémoc, 06000 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico