Jam Three Ways: Sweet, Tart, and OMGBacon

Hi, my name is Melanie and I’m hopelessly addicted to jam, and I have no one to blame but myself. It’s the perfect season for it as well. Berries and fresh fruits of all sorts are aplenty in Georgia right now. Today I made three different sorts of jam: a sweeter jam (strawberry mint), a tart and kicky jam (blueberry ginger key lime), and a savory jam (bourbon bacon). I can’t stop.

Jam line-up. Turn to the side, please.

The two fruit jams follow a similar process to last week’s inaugural jamventure. I found a most coveted bag of key limes at Fresh Market and knew immediately what I wanted to do. Key limes, if you have not had them, are magical. I think I mentioned before that I grew up in Key West, where many many folks had key lime trees in their yards and they were always plentiful. Imagine my shock when I moved away and saw how expensive and hard to come by they were elsewhere! You couldn’t GIVE those things away fast enough in the Keys. The skin is thin and the juice is a cloudy green-yellow, slightly bitter and with a richer flavor than your traditional Persian lime.

When ripe the skin is yellow, but you’ll rarely find them fully ripened in the store.

Blueberry Ginger Key Lime

• 3 cups fresh blueberries (check for stems – you don’t want those in your jam)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tbsp powdered pectin
• 1/4 cup key lime juice (this will take about 15 limes, please don’t use bottled or you’ll hurt my feelings)
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest (because key limes are too thin to zest adequately)
• 2 tsp fresh grated ginger

Look at those bad boys.

Just like last week (except without the spice simmering), throw all your ingredients in a large pot and mash the berries while over medium heat. Stir it at a boil for 15 minutes or until it’s thickened and foaming. It will turn the most beautiful shade of deep purple as the skins cook into the jam. Jar as before, being careful with spillage as blueberries will stain you as soon as look at you.

Smoke on the water and fire in the sky.

Strawberry Mint

• 3 cups strawberries
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp powdered pectin
• 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
• juice of 1 orange and half a lemon

Give your sugar and mint a whirl in the food processor to chop it up thoroughly. Then do just as above: pot, mash, boil, jar. I am dreaming of drizzling this jam on small toasts with creamy goat cheese.

And now, ON TO THE BACON! Bacon was BOGO at Fresh Market today, so it was kind of like fate. I’ve been dreaming of making this ever since I had it at Dovetail, my favorite restaurant in Macon. For this, I once again turned to King Arthur for a base recipe, tweaking the sugar and spice and adding some bourbon because, well, bourbon.

Bourbon Bacon

• 1 1/2 pounds bacon, cut into 1″ chunks and cooked ’til browned
• 1 large Vidalia onion, sliced thinly
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (NOTE: this is not pancake syrup. Not. Pancake. Syrup.)
• 1/4 cup boiled cider (not a common thing in stores down here, but you can make your own by (shocker) boiling down ordinary apple cider until it’s thick and concentrated)
• 3/4 cup strong dark coffee
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Quite simply, throw everything into your slow cooker.

Tell me you can’t smell that.

Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours until everything in your house smells of bacon and love.

Not terribly appetizing, but there it is.

Remove the bay leaves and give the whole mix a quick pulse in the food processor until it’s whatever consistency you desire. Throw it in a large pot, add a shot (or two) of good bourbon, and reduce the whole lot. It will thicken as it cools later, but you want it to be less liquid than it was when it came out of the slow cooker for spreading purposes. Jar and try not to eat the whole business before it even makes it to your fridge.

As a side note, I got back from Charleston this afternoon and had the BEST of times. My girl Kirsten recently moved there and I’d never been, so of course we took the city by storm. We’re good at that. Fortunately not literally, though – thanks, TS Andrea, for blowing right on past us and never raining once! We also managed to keep up our tradition of getting cat-called by a speeding car full of youths. It’s the little things?

I’m sure we’ll both find the time to do a joint post on the whole weekend later, but here are some previews:

-from The Bar at HUSK:

Pig ear lettuce wraps. I know. I know.

-from Charleston’s Cafe:

This is a fried softshell crab sandwiched between pancakes with scrambled eggs and other goodies. It’s real, I promise.

-from our sordid pasts:

We still don’t know the rules.