Sold out at £6 a bar ... the tastebud sensation that's a mix of milk chocolate and smoky bacon



In the mix: The bacon bar has proved an unexpected hit with British tastebuds

In a league of favourite foods, bacon and chocolate would both be near the top.



Usually, it has to be said, eaten separately.

Now, however, confectioners have combined the two in the world's first bacon chocolate bar. And it is proving a major success with British customers.



The unlikely hit Christmas gift is Mo's Bacon Bar, which contains chunks of applewood smoked bacon combined with smoked salt and milk chocolate.



At £5.99 per 3oz bar it is far from a cheap treat, but Selfridges – the only UK stockist – sold its entire stock of several hundred within 48 hours at its four stores and has urgently ordered more.

The manufacturer, Chicago-based Vosges Haut-Chocolat, encourages first-time buyers to 'engage your five senses … let the lust of salt and sweet coat your tongue'.

Ewan Venters, food and restaurant director at Selfridges, said: 'Bacon and chocolate sounds like a strange combination, but the execution is fantastic. It's a real explosion of flavours and people love it.

'Some of the combinations were really surprising like putting curry in chocolate but it works.

'There has been a real revolution in luxury chocolate, as there was with wine a few years ago. People are much more knowledgeable about it and there is a growing demand for these high quality, exotic products instead of a box of Milk Tray.'

A hesitant Claudia Connell bravely puts it to the test

It's fair to say that I'm something of a chocolate addict and munch my way through at least two bars a day, writes Claudia Connell.

And I have an equally piggy appetite for bacon. I like it streaky, crispy, unsmoked and Sunday mornings simply wouldn't be the same without it. But it would never have crossed my mind to combine the two.

Salty sweet: An uncertain Claudia reacts after taking a bite

When it comes to eating my chocolate I've always followed the same formula: unwrap, stuff in mouth, do not share at any, any cost.

But the bacon bar is no ordinary piece of confectionery and it comes with a unique set of instructions.

First I am to breathe in deeply and engage my five senses. I must caress the chocolate to release the aroma and then place a tiny piece in my mouth.

I have to say that there's no need to 'release the aroma' as it's already there in all its pungent glory and as for putting a tiny piece in my mouth – thank goodness I did, because it is quite simply the most unpleasant thing ever to have passed my lips.



The chocolate is intensely salty and the smoky bacon pieces are horribly out of place in something so sweet.



The whole sensation is like eating chocolate that has been dunked in an overflowing ashtray. One hour after eating half a square, the bitter after-taste lingers on.



It just goes to prove that certain foods should never be placed together. I don't want jelly babies on my pizza. I'm not interested in Jaffa Cakes and chips.



And I definitely won't be eating bacon-flavoured chocolate again.