Today, my family is descending into the bowels of the earth, exploring the inner ecosystems of Carlsbad Caverns. While we’re mixing homeschooling and family adventure, I’m honored to have some of my favorite online bloggers contribute their amazing posts here. The following is a guest post by Tiffany of The Coconut Mama.
We love bacon in our home. We love it almost as much as we love coconut. Every so often my 3-year-old daughter decides she doesn’t want to eat meat anymore. So I make bacon. Does she turn down bacon? Nope. Never. Bacon is awesome!
What is bacon jam? Bacon jam is a spread of sweet and savory deliciousness with the goodness of bacon. You can serve bacon jam with crackers, over baked brie (my favorite) or spread it on sandwiches and hamburgers. Give bacon jam to your friends and family as gifts. They will love you forever for it!
A Tip: Use the highest quality bacon to make your bacon jam. Pork bacon from pastured raised pigs is truly the best bacon on earth.
Bacon Jam Recipe
The Players
- 1 1/2 pounds of pasture pork bacon, cut into 1 inch chunks
- 2 onion (yellow or red), diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar (where to buy apple cider vinegar)
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar, sucanat or date sugar (where to buy coconut sugar)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (where to buy real maple syrup)
- 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
The How-To
1. Use a dutch oven pot and cook the bacon until brown but not crispy, about 15 minutes.
2. Remove bacon from the pot and add the diced onion and minced garlic and cook for about 5 minutes or until onion is soft and translucent.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Add bacon back into the pot and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and allow the bacon mixture to simmer for 30-45 minutes. The mixture should be thick and like syrup.
4. Pour bacon jam into a food processor and pulse until the bacon is finely chopped. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This recipe makes approximately 3 cups of bacon jam.
Enjoy!
Meet Tiffany
Tiffany Pelkey is a real food mama who lives in Oregon. She blogs about real food, natural living and all things coconut on her site, The Coconut Mama.
This looks scrumptious! Thanks for sharing.
I wonder if you have read this article from Tropical Traditions about coconut sugar. Made me reconsider buying/using it.
http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/coconut_palm_sugar.htm
Thanks for posting that! I have never seen this info. I most definitely would NEVER rather have coconut sugar than coconut oil or fruit.
Yes I have. The company I order my coconut palm sugar from uses sustainable farmed sugar from Brazil. Contact the company you purchase your palm sugar from and ask if their farming is sustainable.
Holy yum!!! I absolutely must try this. It would be crazy on brie!
Drooling!
Yum! Perfect recipe for this cold rainy Chicago morning. Thank you for posting.
Any suggestions for subbing out the coffee? Would love to try it, but not sure what to replace the coffee with. Thanks!
Oh wow! This sounds incredible!
There are a variety of chicory based instant coffee substitutes that might work well – one I know of is called Inka.
A tea similar to coffee in flavor can also be made using dried dandelion root.
I’m curious about the refrigerator life of this jam
Bacon really?? Do some reseach on pigs. Then see if you really want to encourge your child to eat that stuff. Pigs are one of the most unclean animals put on this earth. They will eat anything, I mean anything. Then you eat everything they just ate.
Why is it a bad thing that they’ll eat anything?
I think it’s miraculous! They take kitchen scraps (if domesticated) and forage (if wild) and turn them into amazing compost and nutrient-dense, healthy fats.
Anyhow, many traditional cultures rely heavily on pork. The key to making pork healthy is to stick to preparing it according to traditional wisdom. Here are a couple of articles I’ve written about it in the past:
http://www.foodrenegade.com/pork-bad-for-you/
http://www.foodrenegade.com/definitive-guide-pork/
I would like to know what I can use instead of the coffee also!
I am allergic to coffee. Any suggestions for substitutes?
You could use water instead. The coffee gives the jam a rich dark flovor but I think the recipe will taste okay without it.
YUMMMM BACON!!!
Is there a way to can this to make it shelf stable? Also, what is the shelf life in the refridgerator?
Thank you,
I’m also wondering if this has to be refrigerated.
I’m also wondering if this has to be refrigerated. I mean I see to put it in the fridge, but can it be left out or would that require properly canning it?
I made bacon jam several months ago. I still have a couple small containers in the fridge… it’s still good! I think the vinegar helps keep the bacteria from forming, but what do I know?! If I take it out and it doesn’t look/smell the same, I won’t eat it, but I haven’t had a problem yet. Bacon jam is like sex in a jar, only better because it’s bacon!! LOL!