JAMMIE-ING UP IN JULY!

A few weeks ago, our food bank had a windfall in what seemed like millions of packages of bacon. So many in fact that even after patrons stocked up, a large number remained and our food bank gurus Ann and Liz were concerned that it NOT go to waste.

Coincidentally, we TSH crew had been talking about taking a day and making some of our famous Jammie Up – maple bacon bourbon jam – that is simply beyond description. It is a little bit of messing around on its finest day so one would have imagined that times-ing the recipe by 8 times might be quite the adventure. Nonetheless, we were in from the get-go.

We checked and doublechecked the proportions, picked a day, gathered the goods, and we were off-to-the-races. Needless-to-say, an ample pour of bourbon was required!

Take a gander at the quantities including 32 packages of bacon equaling 24 lbs. as the base.

Darned revenge of the 24 onions and 96 garlic cloves! Next we were on to the task of unwrapping all the packages and cutting the bacon into pieces.

Once all ingredients were assembled, the cooking time to reduce our two huge pots into jam was also 8 times what the recipe indicated so we savoured and stirred the pots over a 15 or 16-hour period rather than the anticipated 2 hours! Next, sampling and adjusting the cumin and chipotle in adobo, and immersion blending to a coarse consistency. It turned out as incredibly wonderful as we remembered. Notice the snappy fashion apron donned by Miss Prince who always seems to wear white on red cooking days.

Then we packaged 10 regular and just shy of 100 smaller jam-size containers and took a deep and satisfying sigh of relief with high hopes that our food bank patrons enjoy this treat as it was a true labour of love!

p.s. we suggest it on toast, as a side to any egg dish, or at its finest grab a baguette slice, spread it with Jammie Up and top with a mouth-watering hunk of St. Andres.