ULTIMATE TASTE TEST 3.0 RATING: 3.4 out of 5.0
Happy Bacon is a personal favorite, and I’ve been addicted to it ever since Erica shared it when we met in Singapore. I encouraged her to join the Ultimate Taste Test to really put it to the test among foodies.
This is one of the highly debated foodie discoveries in UTT3 (see comments below). Fifty percent loved it because of the unique sweet-and-salty combination that is almost aphrodisiac in nature, while the other half hated it because it’s deadly, sinful and they didn’t like the aftertaste of bacon. But it passed the test with a rating of 3.4. This is a great Christmas gift for foodies who love new adventures with their chocolate.
The packaging can definitely be improved on and maybe Erica could create a version with the truffle-like quality of chocolate. Some think that its price of P250 for 100g is too high, but for us, the only problem is that the product has to be picked up in the QC / ABS-CBN area.
I’m a Happy Bacon fan, are you?
What Foodies Are Saying About Happy Bacon
“It is unique but no extraordinary taste”
“I love the sweet & salty taste …. and the presentation”
“sweet + salty = eww :~”
“Really, Really Good! Perfect combination of sweet and salty, as a snack!”
“Sinful (but awesome)!”
“Sinful! hahaha!”
“WOW!”
“Not my combination”
“No big deal. You can coat anything with Choco”
“The chocolate coating is too thick, low quality chocolate.”
“Very good but some bacon “thread” was a bit tough — overall it was A-OK!”
“Weird but good.”
“I don’t think that works.”
“New! My hubby and I love this!”
“It was a bad idea; the taste wasn’t right… unhealthy…”
“What a combination!”
“Taste good at first; but the aftertaste not that good”
“You no longer recognize the bacon.”
“Crunchy but the aftertaste is that of bacon and not of chocolate?”
“Something new & interesting, it works!”
“I couldn’t reconcile the bacon with the chocolate”
“Interesting mix of bacon & chocolate”
“Might seem like a strange combination but the saltiness of bacon with choco actually works!”
“Very Interesting”
“Something Different”
“Not a big fan of bacon, no didn’t really like it.”
“Never thought this would work but it does. less chocolate sana.”
“Salty-Sweet Combi. good but not great for me.”
“Original!”
“Can’t get enough!”
“Reminds me of Royce Chocolate Covered Potato Chips! with Crispier texture! mmm!”
“Something different but would not eat a lot of it. The combination is deadly. Once you taste it, that’s just it. No more 2nd servings!”
“The chocolate is not at par with the novel idea. It’s like eating goya. It’s more sinful if it were like truffle.”
“Authentic taste.”
“We love this one but isn’t it too much for high blood?”
The Happy Bacon Story by Erica Paredes
Before I even went to New York last July, my friend who lives there was already telling me about a little chocolate store that sold chocolate-covered bacon. I was intrigued and excited to try it, as I have always liked the combination of sweet and salty. I love Kettle Corn, and grew up eating spam cooked with sugar. Christmas is the best time of the year for me because that’s when the sweet-salty Fiesta ham comes out. And I love eating cheese with grapes or figs. It never sounded gross or weird to me. In fact, it made sense.
I was in New York for 5 weeks and it wasn’t until the last few days that I went to the place my friend was telling me about… It was amazing as I expected, so thank God I didn’t try it before or I would have spent my entire trip (and all my money) munching on the chocolate bacon. It was a bit pricey at about $35 per pound, so I bought a 1/2 pound bag to take back to Manila since the owner said it would keep for about 6 weeks if refrigerated. It was a hit with the people I work with at Metro and something we talked about even months after I returned.
One day, I decided to try to make it myself. It took a few tries but I finally got the perfect bacon-chocolate combination and let some of my friends try it. They loved it, and one person I work with even said mine tastes better than the one I brought home from NY. Cheaper too! I just kept making to bring around with me and have people try because I was thinking of giving them out as Christmas gifts. The thought of selling them also occured to me, but I was planning to do it much later, until a trip to Singapore sped things up a bit.
I met Anton Diaz over lunch and casually brought out my bag of bacon for him and the rest of the table to try. He, fortunately, loved the product and asked me to join his Ultimate Taste Test, which was to take place only a week later. I was slightly panicking because I wasn’t even sure if I could produce that much but I managed to do it. The product was received quite well at the event and orders from friends and people who read about Happy Bacon through blogs or were at the event started pouring in. The amount of orders I have gotten this Christmas is still a bit overwhelming for me, since I’m a beginner, so hopefully people are understanding (for awhile) if orders, specially in bulk, take longer than a few days. I’m still trying to work out the kinks and don’t even have proper packaging yet — just a small white bag — but hopefully, if everything works out, I can work on all of these things soon!!!
Happy Bacon
Piggy Stardust
Chocolate-covered bacon bites
50g – P150
100g – P250
150g – P380
Pig Pops
Chocolate Lollipops with Bacon Bits
1 Piece – P30
4 Pieces – P100
Erica Paredes’ Happy Bacon
Email: happy_bacon143@yahoo.com
Live an Awesome Life,
Anton Diaz
Founder, OurAwesomePlanet.com
Mobile: +63917-LOVEOAP (5683627)
Email: anton@diaz.ph
Follow me in Twitter: antondiaz
Add me as a Friend in Facebook: antondiaz
Subscribe in my You Tube channel: antondiaz
P.S. The Chocolate Craze in Manila is heating up. Do let me know if you have a chocolate discovery tip! 🙂
Thanks so much for this, Anton! really appreciate it! Also, I have changed the chocolate I used at the taste test from Milk to Bittersweet-it’s much better now 🙂 Will let you know when I’ve sorted out the packaging and all of that. I’ll send you a few bags after the Christmas rush! Thank You again!!!! 🙂
Te combination of sweet and salty worked for me. The bacon aftertaste rightfully lingered in the mouth. The choice of chocolate is crucial for it is the base. Buy the best you can ever afford. You’ll never go wrong. We must always welcome new products. The edgier, the better. For that’s the whole idea of food. It’s meant to be fun, enjoyed, criticized, talked about, then ultimately learn from it till you perfect it. The bacon chocolate was superb. Welcome and more power!
hmmmm, this is quite an intriguing adventure food for me…….can’t wait to get hold of this…layo lang hehehe (south boy kc)
well….maybe guyz out there can meet the gorgeous Erica din hehehe 😀
I like the name “happy bacon chocolate”. Catchy like “rice in a box’
hello
do you know what brand of bacon she uses? or does she order custom cut bacon from the butcher?
thanks.
hi. how can we order this happy bacon chocolate?ddo they have a place or contact number?
You can Erica by email.
Sent from my iPhone
Hi Pao, I'm not sure what she uses… she improved it already ever
since Ultimate Taste Test 3.
Thank you for sharing this. I had such a wonderful time myself traveling and performing in philippine and this bought back so many memories.
You can contact Erica/ Happy Bacon via Email only at this time.
I really like to try this new product from Happy Bacon kaya lang with my busy schedule, picking it up from Quezon City takes up much of my time. Wala bang way na pwede itong irequest na pa ship out? Thanks and looking forward to a reply.
hi anton, sorry for having to go through you.
I emailed erica once after xmas and she replied, but after that i havent heard from her. I emailed her 4x since then but no replies. Would you know if she still has the same email? thanks!
She is in Australia now, but she told me that she answers every single email for orders in this address: happy_bacon143@yahoo.com