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If you thought the bacon revolution was over, maybe you don’t like bacon enough. That’s because the bacon renaissance or whatever you wanna call it is really more like a primal, carnivorous impulse than a trend. It’s not going anywhere.
They’ve given in to all things bacon at the U. City Loop’s Miss M’s Candy Boutique, with three new items for sale, all of them compelling.
Chocolate-bacon popcorn (at left)is like caramel corn all growed-up. A product of Colorado’s Two Haute Cowgirls company, “Have Bacon Will Travel” is an addictive blend of popcorn, milk chocolate, toasted nuts, smoked bacon, and maple syrup. The unexpected kick is balanced by the sweetness, with a bacon punch. This stuff is truly addictive. Buy it as a gift for someone, watch them open it in front of you, and then casually ask if you can try it. Then keep “trying” it until they protest, which they will. It’s that good.
Bacon lollipops (below left)taste like French toast that’s been Wonka-ized into a sucker: maple-ey, bacon-ey, and good for kids. They reminded me a bit of the wintertime Vermont treat of freshly made maple syrup on snow, where the syrup hardens on contact with the cold.
We saved the best for last. Miss M’s owner Sharon Echols (the “M” is for her daughters, Megan and Morgan) decided she wanted to carry bacon-chocolate. Then she decided to make her own. Her house-made milk-chocolate patties stuffed with bacon bits are no joke. She cooks up thick, slab bacon crisp and firm, drains it, chops it, and mixes it into molten gourmet milk chocolate in a double boiler. She then pours it into custom molds in the shape of cartoon pig snoots (above right), which harden in the fridge.
There is nothing subtle about this bacon-chocolate. For those who have sampled the now ubiquitous gourmet item, you may have found the smoky bacon flavor somewhat subtle beneath the sweetness of the chocolate. Not this time. This is a bacon bomb that immediately fires off a fusillade of endorphins in the body. It is as salty as it is sweet, and rich like a Danforth.
Echols is now hand-dipping fresh summer fruits in chocolate, too. The chocolate-dipped bing cherries are amazing. The fruit cups with various combos of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries are just dreamy (above left) , with fruit juices and melting chocolate exploding (above right) into your mouth. Her own innovation, chocolate-dipped green grapes, sounds intriguing.
Up next, Miss M’s will introduce chocolate-dipped potato chips, which reminded us of this; lemon and orange crème malt balls; and lemon and orange yogurt pretzels, Echols said.
Miss M’s is also renowned for their extensive line of “candy fashions”: non-edible bracelets made from real lollipops (below left) , purses made from Junior Mints wrappers (below right) and so on. If you love candy, it’s one way to show it.
We’re gonna go out on a limb here and say that Miss M’s is the candy shop that stays open the latest into the evening of any of its ilk in the St. Louis area. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, if there’s a concert at the neighboring Pageant, Echols will keep her shop open ‘til midnight. You can savor your bacon-chocolate, licorice, Sugar Daddies, Gummi bears, chocolate-dipped cherries etc. on the patio chairs out in front, while the nighttime parade of Loop humanity passes by...covetously.
Miss M’s Candy Boutique
6193 Delmar
The Loop
314-721-7000
Editor's Note: Miss M's snagged an SLM 2012 A-List award for "Candy Store" and owner Sharon Echols (above right) will attend the A-List party on July 12. What goodies will she have in tow? Only one way to find out: come to the party! Details here.
