A little bit sweet, a little bit smoky, and a little bit zippy; this jam may very well change the way you consume your bacon.
I’ve spiffed up the recipe a bit since I last posted it, adding a dab o’ my favorite curry powder blend to the mix. I’ve also tripled the amounts (I made this batch to share as holiday gifts) and added jalapeños, to help with the spicy – but you should be able to cut back to a more reasonable amount easily. This batch made made about two and a half pints of eminently giveable bacon goodness.
INGREDIENTS
•36 oz bacon
•6 cups diced sweet onion
•12 cloves garlic, minced
•2 jalapeños, sliced
•BBQ seasoning*
•3/4 cup cider vinegar
•3/4 cup brown sugar
•3/8 cup maple syrup
•2 cups cup espresso
•1 tbsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce
•1/2 tsp black pepper
•1/2 tsp curry powder
•3/4 tsp Aleppo pepper
*I like a maple and garlic blend, but use your own fave; and feel free to substitute for the other seasonings I call for.
Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered and bacon is lightly browned – about twenty minutes.
Transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined platter to drain.
Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the skillet – you can chill and save the rest for flavoring pastries or green beans or any number of treats – it all tastes better with bacon 😉
Add the onion, garlic, and jalapeño to the tablespoon of bacon fat in the pan and cook until the onion is translucent – about six minutes. Add the vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup and coffee and bring to a boil, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, for about two minutes.
Stir in the bacon to combine and transfer all to a 6-quart slow cooker. Cook on high, uncovered, until liquid is syrupy. The recipe 
says to cook for 3-1/2 to 4 hours – but all was well and truly done in our Cuisinart slow cooker in about two hours – so I would recommend watching your pot until it looks right.
Transfer all to a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.
Let cool, and then refrigerate, covered, up to four weeks.
Not too, too bad as a spread on crackers or party bread; pretty darned decent baked in ciabatta rolls; and, if you save jam that’s been in the fridge for a while in an ice cube tray, freeze ’til solid, then pop the cubes out into a freezer bag and stash for adding to baked beans or mebbe even chili later.
Yum.