Monday, June 28, 2010

Review of Mo's Bacon Bar: A Small Adventure in Chocolate

After a long exchange on Facebook which somehow ended up being about bacon and peanut butter sandwiches, and made reference to a photo a friend had posted which featured a well-endowed woman wearing a bra made of bacon, someone mentioned chocolate covered bacon, and then my friend Rebecca mentioned a candy bar called Mo's Bacon Bar which she had seen at whole foods.

She surprised me with one a couple of months later, and I have been holding onto it for a couple of weeks, intrigued, but allowing it to find its moment.

I have picked up the tiny oblong box several times now to read the packaging.  Produced by Vosges Haut Chocolat, it is a 45% cocoa bar, which features applewood smoked bacon and alderwood smoked salt.  The rationale for the bar is captured on the back of the box:  "Inspired by my love of savory and sweet, a royal coupling of bacon and chocolate.  Discover why everything is better with bacon."  Signed, Katrina.  I noticed that the entire bar is only .5 oz.  The box provides no nutritional information at all, so I am assuming it is zero Weight Watcher points, or maybe two at the most. 

Today, after the kids' swim lessons and making lunch, the bacon bar found its moment.  I was poking around in the kitchen and making a second cup of coffee, and there it was.  I had the points available, and I decided to eat it.  I pulled the foil packet out of the box, and the bar was even smaller than I had anticipated, about half the size of a playing card or maybe a bit bigger.  I had trouble getting the foil open and ultimately used scissors so that I wouldn't melt or squoosh the chocolate.   I noticed that stamped on the foil was "Mini Bacon Candy Bar."  So there must be other sizes.  When I pulled the chocolate out of the package it was even smaller than it appeared inside the foil.  I was okay with this because I just wanted a small taste, not to blow my WW day.

I broke the end off the bar and could see a bacon bit nestled in the chocolate-- it simply looked like a nut.  I could smell the bacon before the milk chocolate even entered my mouth.  The candy bar lived up to its packaging.  I bit down to see if the bacon crunched.  It did a little bit, and then became chewy.  But what I noticed more was the superior quality of the milk chocolate-- smooth and rich.  And the bits of bacon, and, I believe, grains of salt really did give the sensation of a sweet mouthful of chocolate with tiny hit after tiny hit of salt that just kept coming.  The surprise for me was how well the smokiness of the bacon complemented the chocolate, and after the chocolate melted away, the bacon bits became chewy and fun to contemplate.

If the bar had been any bigger, it would have become overwhelming quickly.  That half-ounce was just the perfect bite to enjoy the concept.

Thanks Rebecca!

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