The crowd gathered around the booth at the Chocolate Show at Pier 94 this morning was a bit incredulous: “Chocolate-covered what?”

Debbie Perina of Bellerose, Queens, popped a sample of the “pig candy” into her mouth without looking closely. Her eyes bulged. “Oh, yes!” she cried (almost in ecstasy, we must observe). And she insisted to her companion, “Taste it!”

“I love bacon, and I love chocolate,” she gushed. “This is such a great combo. I love it.”

Yes, that’s right: chocolate-covered bacon. O.K., it may never top peanut butter and chocolate as a gustatory combo, but it has its fans.

At some level, the study in contrasts worked: salty and sweet, crunchy and silky, flesh and not-flesh. Well, maybe not that last one.

The creation was offered by Rhonda Kave, a chocolatier who started her shop, Roni-Sue, a year ago in Essex Street Market. She started selling it two months ago as part of her salty-and-sweet line, inspired by the chocolate and bacon bits bar offered by Vosges. That product, she said, did not have the right bacon-to-chocolate ratio for some people’s tastes. So they decided to dip the whole bacon strips — as other vendors have done elsewhere.

Ms. Kave, known for her inventive combinations, seems to be popping up everywhere. We first bumped into her when she was selling chocolate-covered rose petals at a wedding trade show, and again at the pickle festival, where she was selling chocolate-covered pickles. She said she was doing an event with her Lower East Side neighbor, Babeland, which, we informed her, made the news for its vibrator giveaways during the election.

“Nice!” she said. “Rock the vote indeed.”

Ms. Kave first started making candy for holiday gifts after taking a class 25 years ago. In October 2007, after eight years of working in a coalition to prevent domestic violence, she decided to open up a shop in her own name, part of a generation of eponymous shopkeepers.

But so far, the chocolate-covered bacon, which sells at $38 a pound, has been among her biggest hits. One man comes in every week to buy half a pound for his daughter.

This year the Chocolate Show expanded beyond its modest digs in Chelsea to Pier 94 at 12th Avenue and 55th (there are lots of cabs). It runs from today through Sunday, with tickets at $28 apiece (covering the food offered inside). The cavernous space, filled with guilt-inducing treats, is at the opposite end of the chocolate supply chain from the cacao bean farmers in Latin America. And New Yorkers, relieved after a drawn-out election and suffering economic heartburn, seemed content to indulge their anxieties with chocolate.

And indulge they did — in interesting flavors and shapes. There was the ginger chocolate at Green and Black’s, the peppercorn chocolate from Eclat and the chocolate figs from John and Kiras. Then, there were chocolates shaped like sushi, stiletto shoes and fat happy buddhas.

But still, it was chocolate-covered bacon that was the talk of the festival. Ms. Perina refused Ms. Kave’s offer of a second helping of chocolate-covered bacon. She’d had enough.

But before she left, she told Ms. Kave, “Thanks for taking the chance.”