Candied bacon?!? Who dreamed up this stuff?!? You asked.

Tara Simon did. And the bacon loving world is a better place for it.

You might have seen Tara and The Sticky Pig Candied Bacon Confections on “Outrageous Food” on the Food Network.  With flavors like S’mores (Graham cracker crusted candied bacon filled with chocolate and hazelnut butter and topped chocolate, a tiny marshmallow and dusted with graham cracker crumbs) and Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel (chocolate, peanut butter and pretzels, then hand dip each piece in more chocolate and top with pretzel “dust” and our very own peanut butter drizzle), these sweet and savory nuggets are to die for. I mean, COME ON! How yummy do they sound?

As a friend, naturally, when I was invited to contribute to BaconScotch, I thought of Tara.  Tara metamorphosed her love of food into a successful candied bacon enterprise complete with her own original, one-of-a-kind candied bacon creations.  The Sticky Pig’s candied bacon confections are made in house in Orange County, California, right when you order to ensure quality and freshness. Each piece is made by hand by Tara herself and baked with love with the best possible ingredients she can find, including organic ingredients and make things from scratch when she can.

With the Bacon Vixen as a friend, I have had the benefits of tasting some of her products over the years.

To find out more about Tara and her creations, I sat her down for a quick interview.

OakMonster: I’m sure you get this a lot. What inspired/possessed you to make bacon candies?

Tara: Back in maybe 2004 I had my first bite of candied bacon and I was hooked! Never had I experienced the awesomeness of sweet and salty, like bacon baked with brown sugar and cayenne pepper. I began making it for parties and family gatherings and watched in amazement how quickly my bacon was consumed. Everyone went bonkers and I was always the hit at any party. I’m pretty good with pairing flavors, so I decided to give a few a try, like curry, and then I started filling the candied pieces to create the candies that I sell now on my website.

Where do you find inspiration for new flavor combination?

Everywhere from reading dessert and cocktail menus when I’m out to keeping up with the dessert and chocolate industry, and by tasting whatever I can get my hands on.

Which one of your creations is your personal favorite?

At the moment I am in the works of revamping my entire candied bacon collection, but right now my favorite is The Elvis, which is bacon filled with half banana ganache and half spicy peanut butter ganache with toffee crunch and covered in milk chocolate and topped with banana chips.

The Elvis is my favorite too!  (Followed by S’mores.)  Finally, you probably have tasted a lot of bacon in your line of work. Any favorite?

I like my bacon crispy and crunchy and not too thick or smokey, so some of my favorites are Albert’s Organics Sunday Bacon and Farmland bacon.

To learn more about Tara’s confections and how to order them, visit The Sticky Pig website at TheStickyPig.com.

P.S. Tara informs me that the website and the line of confections are being revamped. So the flavors may not have the same ingredients as mentioned here. Just letting you know.