“Ed Hick's Bacon Jam: it's a relish”, says the label.
Except Mr Hick's newest product isn't merely a relish, as the label happily says. It is also a game-changer, one of those products that seem fated to be created, so long as a brilliant, creative artisan can free the idea from the ether.
You know the other ones, stretching back through thirty years of Irish artisanship: Milleens cheese; Clonakilty black pudding; Cashel Blue; Janet Drew's red pepper relish; Boilie cheese; Traas Farm apple juice; Glenilen butter, are just a few of the foods that both define their time, and redefine their food landscape.
You know them because they seem so beautifully logical: after all, bacon belongs in jam as sure as salt belongs in butter. It's sweet, and it's also savoury, the flavours a relish chases after, so it provides the hit we need from special foods, thanks to that piquancy we crave. Mr Hick has balanced his relish beautifully, so the flavour is subtle at first, then long and clean.
Like Boilie, we expect to see Ed Hick's bacon jam in every chill cabinet in every shop, first nationally, then internationally. Just remember where you tasted it first.
