A VERSION of bacon-flavoured jam invented in Walthamstow is to be sold in supermarkets across the UK after Tesco snapped up the product.
Staff at Walthamstow restaurant Eat 17, in Orford Road, came up with the curious concoction last year, and its fame has been growing ever since - no small part thanks to it being featured on Jonathan Ross's ITV chat show.
Chef Chris O'Connor, 28, came up with the idea after combining the restaurant's burger toppings of onion jam and bacon.
He said: "We were experimenting in the kitchen when we realised combining the two created a different and really unique flavour.
"We started putting it in the burgers and then we had a few customers asking if they could buy jars of it. It became so popular we started selling it in our shop and it took off from there."
Tesco approached the restaurant amid growing media interest in the product, and have now signed a deal to stock it in 280 stores.
Bacon jam itself is not a new invention - similar condiments are widely available in the USA - but the recipe is.
Mr O'Connor, of nearby Eden Road, said: "It takes a long time to make and we have our own secret ingredients and techniques that make it special.
"Without giving too much away we use things like maple syrup and freshly brewed coffee, which is actually used in quite a lot of BBQ sauces."
But while the jam goes down a treat with some, not everyone is convinced.
Arguably its most high-profile critic is Janet Street Porter, who used her Daily Mail column to trash the concoction back in April.
She wrote: “I don’t know if taste buds atrophy as you enter postal codes with double figures, but this bland goo is neither jam nor chutney — and I can make both.”
Mr O'Connor said: “I know it's not to everyone's taste, which is fine.
“I’d like Janet Street Porter to come down to the restaurant and hopefully change her mind.”
Mr O'Connor is now working on follow-ups including chorizo jam and Mexican chilli.
He added: “All the jars will mention Walthamstow and Eat17 on them, and while we're using an independent manufacturer in Wales to help us produce it, it's great for the restaurant getting our name out there.
“It's just incredible to think it's taken off like this.”
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