Look what came in the mail!

It was an innocent-looking package, well padded and taped, but with no obviously identifying markings.

I opened it.

It was from my sister Susan and her husband John in Pittsburgh. Inside the mailer was this attractive package.



Er, is that what I think it is?



Really? Milk chocolate bacon chunks? Oh. My. God.

I opened the top:



Seriously elegant packaging, eh?

This was the inner package, surrounding a small plastic bag:



And there they were in all their calorific glory: chocolate covered bacon bits!


The chocolate was very soft and in the classic light/sweet, milky American style (unlike the darker, harder chocolate preferred in Europe):


I was almost afraid to taste it. I guess I felt like a dog that barks at cars--- what will he do when he finally catches one? For all my joking about bacon, I actually rarely eat it, and would never have bought chocolate bacon for myself. What on earth would it taste like?

I had to find out:



The bacon was very mild and cooked just to the point of firmness without being brittle. The overwhelming flavor was the chocolate itself, with the bacon mostly adding a strange (but not unpleasant) texture for a candy, with occasional salty notes; an interesting counterbalance to the general sweetness. The bacon was not at all smoky (smoke and chocolate probably wouldn't have worked), and the overall bacon flavor was much more subtle than I'd expected. I'd never thought I'd have occasion to describe the flavor of bacon as "delicate," but this actually came close. Very, very strange!

I consumed a couple pieces (solely for science, of course! (cough cough)) and have stored the rest in my freezer to share as a rare and exotic treat with lucky friends.

Thank you Susan and John, for this interesting, unexpected, and definitely weird gift!