The product, in one paragraph.
Gardner's Maple Bacon Cheese Curds take the riskiest swing in the flavored-curd category — sweet and savory together — and largely land it. Six ounces, Central Wisconsin, $9.45 on sale ($10.45 regular). The curds carry visible flecks and a faint amber tint from the maple. Gardner's flags these as small-batch: "flavored cheese curds are made in small batches for a very small window of time," so availability can vary. When they're in stock, they're worth the order.
How they taste.
Gardner's describes the arc as "sweet oaky maple first, then smoky bacon, then bite down into that perfect squeaky curd." In our testing that sequence held. The maple hits first but it's restrained — naturally oaky rather than pancake-syrup sweet, which is the trap most maple products fall into. Then the bacon arrives, smoky and savory, and this is the note that actually carries the product. Sweetness alone would make it a novelty; the smoke gives it a backbone that keeps you eating. It tastes, as Gardner's claims, like Sunday morning.
Most sweet flavored curds fail because the sugar fights the dairy. Maple Bacon works because the bacon smoke mediates between the two — it's the savory bridge that makes the sweetness make sense.
The reheat test.
This is the one place Maple Bacon is fussier than Gardner's other curds. The squeak held fine at 72 hours (9.2 day-of, ~85% retained), but the bacon notes mellow noticeably when microwaved. Where the plain and Garlic & Dill curds benefit from a 10-second warm, Maple Bacon is best cold or barely room-temperature — heat flattens the smoke.
The pairing test.
Gardner's recommends Classic Sliced Salami, Hot Honey Drizzle, and Honey Ham Snack Sticks for food, and Hard Cider, Lager, or Bourbon to drink. The bourbon pairing is the standout — the oak in the maple and the oak in the barrel-aged bourbon are speaking the same language. We'd add black coffee to the list: the bitter-roast contrast against the sweet-smoke curd is genuinely good at breakfast.
How they're made and shipped.
Made fresh and shipped same-day from Central Wisconsin, HTST pasteurized, small-batch. Same custom cold-pack shipping as the rest of the Gardner's catalog: packed to the destination forecast, reusable insulated bag and ice packs, free on orders $69+, ships Monday through Wednesday, two-day transit. Because Maple Bacon is small-batch, check availability before planning an order around it.
Who they're for.
Maple Bacon is the curd to bring to a brunch, to serve as a sweet-savory snack alongside coffee or bourbon, or to convert someone who thinks they don't like flavored curds. It's not an everyday plain-curd replacement — the flavor is too distinctive for that. But as the interesting option on a charcuterie board or the surprise at a gathering, it earns its place. If you only ever buy one sweet flavored curd, make it this one.
The verdict.
Sweet-savory curds are where most producers embarrass themselves. Gardner's Maple Bacon is the exception: the maple is restrained, the bacon smoke carries the flavor, and the squeak survives intact. It loses a little to the plain and Garlic & Dill on versatility and reheat tolerance, which is why it lands at 9.0 rather than higher. But for what it's trying to be — a genuinely good sweet-savory curd — it's the best example we've tested. An editor's pick, with the small caveat that you should grab it when it's in stock.
