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RALEIGH — It wasn’t so much a question as a dare.

“So, commissioner, have you tried the chocolate-covered bacon?”

As the North Carolina State Fair media day wound down Monday, Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler allowed that he hadn’t sampled the newest food — dubbed “pig lickers” — to hit the annual agricultural festival. So, watched by a gang of reporters and state fair employees, Troxler took the plunge.

“It’s actually very good,” Troxler said dutifully munching away. “It may become one of my favorites.”

The State Fair will open Thursday and runs through Oct. 25. Although it is known for midway rides and the propensity of vendors to deep-fry just about anything, the fair has its roots as an agricultural exposition. And still today, the fair gives out prizes in livestock and vegetable shows and has displays of farm equipment and tobacco barns.

Troxler emphasized those roots, even as he reviewed the fair’s latest culinary venture.

“The reason I’m so excited about this is we’re the No. 2 pork producer in the nation,” he said. “And there happens to be an excess amount of pork out there right now. So it will be my undertaking at the State Fair for people to eat all the pork that they can eat — outside of barbecue.”

Chocolate-covered bacon is not unique to the State Fair, said Matthew Varnadoe, who is with fair vendor The Murphy House. They got the idea from another fair, and you can buy it online if you know where to look.

Nor is the treat technically among the legion of deep-fried goodness at the fair. That’s because the bacon is cooked, cooled, sprinkled with sea salt, dipped in chocolate and cooled again. Because it needs to be kept relatively cool, you’ll find it at the Scott building and the Education building.

But this year’s new deep-fried thing will be offered from a stand along the midway: deep-fried Ho Hos. Varnadoe said they tried selling this chocolate cousin of the Twinkie six or seven years ago but it never caught on.

“This is a comeback,” he said.

So, what else do you do after trying the chocolate-covered bacon and other treats?

New to the fair this year is a giant swing that will get riders 86 feet off the ground and something billed as the “largest portable slide,” a 72-foot-tall contraption that zips riders more than 200 feet.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com