It’s national Bacon connoisseur week, alas almost the end of the event, I only found out about it yesterday!

Bacon is a funny thing, vegetarians often say it’s the meat they miss the most.  One of the most evocative smells is that of bacon cooking, instantly making one feel hungry!  I don’t eat very much meat so this is a very different post for me to be doing.  However I do like bacon, very well cooked crispy bacon.

I heard about bacon jam a while ago and was intrigued and if I’m honest initially kind of grossed out too.  Then I kept on hearing about bacon jam and I warmed to the idea and started craving this strange jam.  When I heard yesterday that it was bacon week I knew instantly that I had the perfect excuse to make bacon jam!

I searched for recipes and came across this one from Martha Stewart. I recently bought a slow cooker for the first time  and am still trying to think of ways to use it.  As this recipe is made in a slow cooker I thought it a serendipitous find.

I halved the recipe as I thought I may have a hard time convincing my husband to try the bacon jam!

The recipe I used is this one from Martha Stewart.  Apart from only making half of the recipe I didn’t make any changes.  I did not have much bacon fat to cook the onions in so if making this in the UK, I think as it’s an American recipe, they probably meant streaky bacon, I used unsmoked back bacon. The only thing I did differently was to add the garlic once the onions were soft, I don’t understand adding onion and garlic to the pan at the same time as the garlic start to burn before the onions cook.  I found the jam to be ready after 2 and a half hours.

I can not believe I waited so long to try this!  I also can not believe I made only half the recipe! This is so good, sweet and savory.  It looks like a cross between Christmas mincemeat and chutney.  I used it as chutney, well a lot of it I have eaten just by the spoonful, it’s that good!  My husband will be having this along with the cheese I made in sandwiches next week.  Yes he tried it and also loved it!

Slow-Cooker Bacon Jam

• To make Bacon jam I used this Recipe here