Mmmm Bacon

Posted by Matt Cipriano | 3 Comments

About a month ago, maybe a little longer, blogs were all a buzz about Vosges bacon chocolate bar. Everyone was all a twitter about the concept: how interesting it was to mix bacon and chocolate. Some commented on the odd combination. Others spoke blindly about how great it would be, as both chocolate and bacon are really tasty.

I was totally all set to write about it, but decided to wait. Why write about a product you haven’t had and speculate on its taste?

So, I decided to do something about it. I contacted Vosges Haut-Chocolate and had them send me one of their Mo’s Bacon Bars.

It sat around a little as I built the courage to try it and found the right people to try it with. Vosges also sent me their Caramel Marshmallows and their Black Pearl Bar (ginger, wasabi, black sesame seeds and dark chocolate). We sat down, all a bit cautious of the Bacon Bar at first and decided to start with the Caramel Marshmallows, which, on the box, look delicious. Unfortunately this proved to be a mistake.

There is something about the Caramel Marshmallow that just makes it too sweet. People debated whether it was the caramel or marshmallow, but one of them just has a cloyingly sweet taste to it that just overwhelms the chocolate.

All the elements seem like they should be right. I mean what sounds better then caramel, pecans, marshmallow, dark chocolate and roasted pecans, walnut and toffee crumble? To counter the sweetness, they even include “a touch of gray sea salt.” But, alas, it was just too sweet.

I even went back to it another time, thinking maybe it was just something else I had before eating it which gave it that taste, but no, still way to sweet. This left me and my tasters at a bit of a loss. If Vosges could screw up such simple flavors, what chance did their chocolate bars have?

Next up, we decided it was time to just get right to heart of the matter and break into Mo’s Bacon Bar.

Mo’s Bacon Bar is made of “applewood smoked bacon, alder wood smoked salt, and deep milk chocolate” and is 41% cacao. We did a little reading from their press materials which suggested rubbing the bar with your finger and then taking a sniff. It smells like bacon. Pretty much, it looks like your traditional chocolate bar with a deep smoked bacon scent to it.

Everyone broke off a piece of the bar and there was pretty much a uniform reaction to it: at first a bit of a quizzical look, as our tasters were not exactly sure what to make of it, and then that half smile and nod, like, “hey, this actually isn’t too bad,” followed two minutes later by a request for another piece of it.

I have tried the bar with 5 different people at three different times and each time I’ve seen pretty much the exact same reaction. Everyone, after that first taste, has gone back for more. Some people have actually taken down the information to find out where they can get their own Mo’s Bacon Bar.

Although you might think there is something very wrong with the idea of mixing bacon and chocolate, I assure you you’re wrong. It kind of falls into the same family as the chocolate covered pretzel, though with a bit more savory going on. As they say (on the cover of their catalogue): “two equally obsessive foods come together in one perfectly balanced bite of savory, smoky and sweet.”

Last up, the Black Pearl Bar. There is nothing bad to say about this chocolate bar. It includes ginger, wasabi, black sesame seeds, dark chocolate, and 55% cacao. It is really well balanced and has great flavors. They all complement each other beautifully and have a great texture, in part owing to the sesame seeds.

Although the flavor combination in a chocolate bar may seem a bit odd, I assure you the flavors work really well together. From their other chocolate bar offerings, it sounds like they do them really well. They clearly know their chocolate and what works well with it. If only the Caramel Marshmallow reflected that as well.

Vosges offers a bunch of truffles, chocolate bars, even ice creams, cookies and cakes. It is definitely worth checking out their website and, as the holidays are getting closer, you may even want to consider something from here as a holiday gift or Secret (santa/snowflake/what ever your office calls it) gift.

Also, when I first read about Mo’s Bacon Bar, I had the thought of creating a Maple Bacon Ice Cream. My friends all laughed originally. Now they are more then willing to try some. So keep an eye out for my Maple Bacon Ice Cream recipe which I will hopefully have posted prior to the end of the year.

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