SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Here are three little words that might give the staunchest snacker pause: Chocolate-covered bacon.
It sounds so wrong. But it tastes just right, says Joseph Marini III, a fourth-generation candymaker who is selling the bacon bonbons at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk seaside amusement park.
“It’s not just for breakfast anymore,” he says with a grin.
It’s hard to tell exactly where the dream of candy-coated breakfast meats started, but for Marini, the inspiration was a trip with some ski buddies a while back.
“One guy came up with, ‘Who doesn’t love bacon? Who doesn’t love chocolate? Let’s marry them together.’”
So Marini gave it a shot and after some trial and error — crispness is key, he says, noting that chewy bacon plus chocolate is undelicious — he came up with a product.
“It was kind of a joke to begin with,” he says. “We brought it down to the boardwalk and put it in a case just to see if people would react, and they reacted.”
Fair food has been shaking up the snack scene for some time, says Ron Whiting, of Whiting’s Foods, whose family has been selling food at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk for decades. Fry, fry again is the theme. Current popular snacks include deep-fried Twinkies and Oreos.
“We all talk about the next corn dog,” he says.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
