Magazine the Blade, Toledo, Ohio Sunday, February 18, 2018 Section C, Page 6

TOLEDO MAGAZINE THE BLADE, TOLEDO, OHIO SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2018 SECTION C, PAGE 6 Maple-glazed cream sticks with bacon are ready for customers at Wixey Bakery. THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPATOSKY Delectable duo Bacon & sugar: Sweet, savory, and irresistible together By ROBERTA GEDERT bacon who coordinates the annual festival, BLADE STAFF WRITER this year slated for May 12. “The American mmm, bacon. palate is a palate that likes sweet stuff. This Mmmm, sugar. is both a sweet and savory approach to eat- Mmmm, bacon and ing, and I think Americans like that con- sugar together. trast.” Marrying the two has Other sugary bacon treats that will be Mbeen a popular trend for several years now available at the event include bacon chips that hasn’t faded from the limelight. (squares of thick bacon marinated in a There’s candied pepper bacon, choc- honey beer, brushed with maple syrup, and olate-covered bacon, bacon ice cream, roasted) and pretzel sticks dipped in melted bacon doughnuts. No sugar product is safe chocolate and rolled in bacon bits. from those salty slabs of meat and fat, and Mary-Jon Ludy, professor of food and in northwest Ohio, residents are making nutrition at Bowling Green State Univer- sure they get their share. sity, said the love of bacon and sugary sub- “Who doesn’t like a doughnut that tastes stances also evokes the nostalgia of bacon like a maple pancake but with bacon?” said being a common American food tying us Brian Wixey, partner at Wixey Bakery, of together and sensory pleasure. The curing the bakery’s bacon maple doughnuts and process for bacon builds on the category of cream sticks they have been making for taste known as “umami,” or savory flavors, about four years. “We saw it online and she said. thought we would give it a shot. It’s just “If you add bacon to something, it’s going fun. The world we live in today, with social to make the flavor more intense,” Ludy said media, things become more accessible to of combining the savory and sweet tastes. everyone with the touch of a finger.” Contact Roberta Gedert At Nedley’s Ice Cream & Coffee Cake in at [email protected], 419-724-6075, Perrysburg, thick-cut strips of maple or or on Twitter @RoGedert. THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPATOSKY hickory bacon are cooked crispy, cooled, then dipped whole into a vat of melted Michelle Walker of Toledo enjoys one of Wixey’s bacon-covered doughnuts. chocolate. A sprinkling of coarse sea salt seals the deal, said co-owner Ellen Sim- mons Wisniewski. “Chocolate covered bacon, bourbon roasted pineapple, vanilla ice cream, Guin- ness chocolate sauce. Awesome” is the menu description for the chocolate-covered bacon sundae, a bacon/sugar concoc- tion offered at Swig Restaurant in Perrys- burg. “We sell them every day. And when it’s summer time, it’s all day,” said Swig man- THE BLADE/LORI KING ager Jerry Carroll. At the 2018 Beer and Bacon Festival Pieces of chocolate- sponsored by the Hungarian Club of covered bacon made Toledo, bacon and sugar always play a at Nedley’s are ready role. for use in Swig’s This year, organizers are bringing sundaes. back popular Rice Krispies treats made with bacon bits mixed in and drizzled with “essence of bacon.” “What’s that? It’s bacon grease. That’s what we call it,” said Peter Ujvagi, a self-pro- THE BLADE/LORI KING fessed lover of Swig’s Kyle Linenkugel prepares one of the Swig’s chocolate- restaurant’s sweet and savory sundaes. covered bacon sundae is a popular order. THE BLADE/ LORI KING THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPATOSKY Wixey’s Jess Grisier presses a frosted cream stick into a bowl of chopped bacon. Watch video with this story at toledoblade.com/a-e. THE BLADE/LORI KING THE BLADE/LORI KING Ellen Simmons Wisniewski, co-own- Brian Wixey carries a tray of maple- er at Nedley’s, lays out dipped bacon glazed cream sticks. slices on a baking sheet..

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