The best theme park churro isn't served at Disneyland

All churros look fundamentally the same — long pieces of dough, ridged on the outside — but there are big differences in taste. Disneyland’s churros are mass-produced off-site, then fried from frozen in the park. Topped with sugary syrup and brightly hued assorted candies, they have become a form of Disney social media currency — with videos of the latest creations amassing thousands of views. 

But here's the thing: They are not good at all. Sadly, the European epicurean delight has been reduced to an Insta-worthy moment that captivates the eyes (and the feed) but is an utter letdown for the tastebuds.

But Knott’s Berry Farm is on a mission to change that, one boysenberry-stuffed churro at a time. In the park’s original Ghost Town, the Gourmet Churro Factory serves house-made churros from a team that rolls, cranks and freshly fries the treats daily, from scratch. Despite offering the best iteration of a churro I’ve ever had in America — yes, including the ones from the mouse house down the street — the park hasn’t made a big deal about this offering. I just happened to stumble upon the quick-service window one day and immediately placed an order for the signature creation stuffed with the park’s staple: boysenberries. My shock continued when I saw my churro being hand-stuffed with the assistance of some machine I had never seen before, instead of being taken from a warming drawer and rolled in cinnamon sugar. 

The result? A perfect crunch, a bold symphony of flavors and a taste that brought me back to that tiny Mediterranean cafe. How did Knott’s somehow manage to make the best churro in all the land? Being a journalist, I put my sleuthing hat on and decided I must find the person responsible for this unexpected theme park moment.

As it turns out, Knott’s sent the park’s food and beverage director, Wilf Seymour, on a quest to find the best possible churro.

The chef joined Knott’s in 2019, after helming the food and beverage programs at two Cedar Fair parks: Great America in the Bay Area and Canada’s Wonderland in Ontario. “I love food," Seymour tells SFGATE. “I love park food. I love seeing different foods throughout the world.”

Knott’s Berry Farm had long sold frozen churros from distributor J&J Snack Foods and the house-made variety — but Seymour noticed a flaw in the system. “The churro machines we had,” he says, “were pretty crappy.”

Seymour, originally from Victoria, British Columbia, spent nearly 10 years in the Toronto area during his time at Canada’s Wonderland. There, he was exposed to the cosmopolitan city’s Latin culture and food, including freshly made Spanish-style churros. “Churros were a thing in Toronto,” he adds.

On his churro mission in Spain, he discovered what made churros there the real deal.   

“I went to Madrid to see the machines and see what real churros were and how they were made,” Seymour tells SFGATE. During his journey in Spain, he acquired a machine to make churros in-house and a hand-operated machine that stuffs filling into them.

He brought the machines first to Great America and then to Knott’s Berry Farm. Those two remain the only Cedar Fair parks that make their own churros from scratch. Disney has dabbled in the fresh-made churro, most notably at Nomad Lounge inside Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park in Orlando, but it's largely serving bulk-purchased frozen churros.

Quick-service kiosks around Knott’s Berry Farm still serve the frozen variety — in mass quantities, Seymour adds — but the freshly made ones at the Gourmet Churro Factory are worth the extra effort. The machine has allowed Knott’s Berry Farm to flex its culinary muscles with seasonal varieties, like a recent carrot cake churro that had cream cheese icing or the menu staple, Bavarian cream. His favorite? A luscious cajeta — a Mexican gooey caramel sauce.

“When you stuff a churro, it has a lot more flavor, and it gives you the ability to do different things with it.” The most popular filling? The classic boysenberry. “People just go crazy for it.”

Acquiring the machine was one thing, but then perfecting the recipe was another — and it’s always a work in progress. “I still go in every week to make sure they’re doing it right,” Seymour says. “Baking is one of the most scientific parts of food.” 

Quality control for the churros includes checking the balance of fine-tuned ingredients. To make the best churro possible, the dough requires very hot water, enough mixing — but not too much — to prevent it from going tough, and the right moisture content, Seymour says.

Team members spend several weeks learning how to use the machine before they tackle the even more difficult task of making the mix. Creating the mix is critical, and it’s a learn-as-you-go process, Seymour says. If it’s too dry or too moist, it will compromise the outcome.

All in all, it takes a month until employees can make a churro on their own.

It may sound like an overcomplicated undertaking to simply make a fried piece of dough, but it's part of Seymour’s goals for the park’s future. “It’s increasing the quality of our culinary team,” he says. “It’s increasing the experience and their flexibility. The more quality we have in our culinary side, the better quality we have throughout the park.” Helping team members become better chefs and cooks means more fresh items, like the churros.

Knott’s is a theme park built on food — from its iconic 89-year-old recipe for fried chicken to the dozens of boysenberry-infused items. “It all revolves around the Knott family and inviting people to your house, basically,” Seymour says. “It really has a feel to it. The whole atmosphere of the food and beverage department revolves around that homestyle and the feel of home. It’s really different from any other park that I’ve worked at.”