bacon + chocolate = ?

so, mo’s bacon bar, what’s that all about? apparently it’s a combination of milk chocolate, crunchy, chewy pieces of applewood bacon and alder wood smoked salt.

this chocolate bar was a gift from cheryl, a friend from san francisco, and amazingly it has been sitting, untouched, in my kitchen since early september. no matter, it has now been opened and will be disappearing very soon no doubt.

it’s an intriguing combination. salty, smoky, sweet-but-savoury are all appealing facets of bacon, which could make it a good partner with chocolate. and smoked salt has to be a winner. however, since trying a marmite and guinness truffle based on similar reasoning i’ve been feeling a bit nervous of exotic chocolates.

i didn’t need to be, this combination works really well. the chocolate is lovely and the smokiness and slight salty tang that the bacon adds works well. there are bits of bacon in the bar which, when you chew on them, definitely taste of bacon. somehow this is somehow reassuring - no additives or “essence of” here!

so, a success? well, it was nice to try and, like cheryl, i’d give it as a gift to a foodie friend but i don’t think i’d buy it for myself, now that i've tried it.

the good news is, cheryl gave me another chocolate bar which is still waiting to be tried...