Bacon Salt

So there is a product on the market now: Bacon Salt. Have you heard of it? Two guys made this up, and it is their mission to "make everything taste like real, delicious, bacon without all the fat or calories." Because Ernie and I are home alone today, I'm waiting for a few e-mails to come in (someone is giving away a free Kitchen Aid stand mixer with a motor problem, my grandpa is a motor whiz, and I know of at least 4 people who would LOVE to have a shiny Kitchen Aid on their counter next week- I'm just waiting for an e-mail saying to come and get it!) I thought I'd do some research on this blogosphere phenomena. There are facebook groups, bacon blogs, and rumors of new religions sprouting up around this product. What IS it?

It's available on the website in a few different flavors (hickory, original, and peppered) and a few different sizes, including the Big Pig (a 16 oz. porker of a jar.)

There are many testimonials of how good it is, how it changes lives, etc. But still- what IS it? It claims to be zero calorie, zero fat, vegetarian, AND kosher. (Do people who live the kosher lifestyle really want bacon flavored scrambled eggs? Do Mormons buy coffee-scented candles??)

Check out the ingredients and nutritional data for the original flavor here. Salt, spices, two kinds of MSG, wheat derivatives, corn derivatives (both syrup and flour), smoke flavor, colorants, vegetable shortening, natural and artificial flavors, and both disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate (two food additive flavor enhancers commonly used in conjunction with monosodium glutamate (MSG or also autolyzed yeast extract), and the guanylate version is extracted from dried fish or seaweed.)

Wow, how did these guys come up with this recipe?! The website says there is an "all natural" version coming later. But there isn't anything altogether bad about this, I think. I've been dreaming about using it in our pot of beans and pans of eggs to get that bacon flavor my husband loves without the expense or mess of meat. (Do all vegetarians start out as penny pinchers? I'm certainly not there yet, and don't intend to swear off eating anything so inherently beneficial and healthy, but GOSH is it expensive!)

So what do you guys think? Worth a try, or just another flash-in-the-pan product like this. (Or am I wrong about that one? Please say I'm not wrong!!) Would you season your Saturday morning eggs, or your next backyard grill hamburger? Maybe your pinto beans? Is this the next seasoning salt staple, like Jonny's or Lawry's?