Bacon Wrapped Maple Spiced Squash Bites

Pork-tober Food Challenge

Bacon is considered meat candy in our home.  My almost 9 year old son will try anything that has bacon in it. Most grownups will try about anything that has bacon in it too. The Farmland Bacon Club and Altec animal feed in their National Pork Month shout outs say the average American will eat about 18 pounds of bacon annually… That’s a lot of pork belly – which ironically comes from the lower sides of the market hog.

When I grew up in the 80’s, bacon was a breakfast food and a swanky restaurant might wrap it around a London broil on the grill. Today bacon is found about everywhere… in potato side dishes, wrapped around cream cheese stuffed jalapeno peppers, around a smoked loin, on about any kind of burger you can imagine and fast food and high end dinning have embraced bacon as a way to embellish their offerings… Bacon has finally earned a place of respect on our plates and has turned what was once a hard to move cut into a prime source of retail income in the local and national chain restaurants and at the meat counter.

Bacon isn’t just for breakfast anymore.

When I was a senior in high school, I was our county pork queen and my favorite part of the duties were the annual visits into elementary classrooms to talk about pork production with kids who thought meat came from the grocery store, not realizing it began on farms like the one I had grown up on. It was almost like food came from a fairy or a bit of magic over night when the store’s lights were dimmed. It was an amazing moment when the kids would realize that my family helped to feed them. It was an experience that helped shape my love for agriculture communications and consumer education. 

I didn’t really think about who I would be married to 25 years later and that I would still be supporting the pork industry as the wife of and mom to the next generation of Iowa pork producers. I spent a year working out of state while the Farmer and I were dating and many weekend dates were spent helping to run electrical wire or pex tubing for water and heating systems in the farrowing barn we still use. I made a crock of chili for the night a few neighbors joined us before we filled it with sows ready to give birth. 

I’m really proud of what my family raises and I’m even more proud of the improvements that we have made in our production techniques from the days I was a county pork queen and eventually the Iowa Pork Princess.  Sorting hogs in our confinement finishing barn is a much different experience for our hogs as well as for us as producers.  When I grew up our hog buildings were open front finishers that provided shelter from the elements, but not the temperatures. Those buildings were an improvement from pasture a frames and free-running sows.  Feeder fills were at the mercy of the producer’s management and time, water access was easily contaminated as lids either stuck flipped open or animals wrangled for position to drink.  Animals sorted from different pens to be loaded for transport or market the night before many times fought to figure out new pecking orders.  That’s not what our hogs experience today.

Hogs on our farm have stable temperature buildings and well bedded and managed hoop structures that allow them to eat to grow, not eat to stave off hypothermia.  Our pens have watering systems that provide clean water that many hogs can drink from at the same time.  Pens are built with sorting and holding fences and gates that can sort off sick or injured pigs for treatment and recovery or can be used to hold hogs for market sales alongside their penmates who have already established a pecking order and will eliminate or at least reduce fighting between animals.

I’m really proud that our farm has introduced our children to the ideas of responsible use of medications, how to care for animals at all stages of the production cycle and how to share the story of our livelihood with others.  I can’t tell you how many friends have gone through our farrowing barn to see piglets and nursery pigs on up to our market weight hogs.  Each time they leave saying they had no idea how much thought or work goes into raising pork.

I love to share good recipes that feature the pork our family proudly raises and when my friend Shannon Latham asked if I would like to make a recipe and give samples at her pumpkin farm’s last weekend – I knew I had to come up with something that showed how pork pairs with flavors we might not think about every day. My offering for Shannon’s customers and the three other accomplished food bloggers also sharing their kitchen know-how this weekend was a bacon wrapped, maple spiced squash bite that could be served as an appetizer or as a specialty side for the upcoming holidays.  It passed the kid test and was a fun way to feature two great foods that are abundantly produced in Iowa. 

Get out and find a local pumpkin or squash patch and buy up some of their amazing produce to store for the winter holidays. And if you have some locally produced pork from a locker or regular bacon from your local grocery store, know that families like ours worked hard to provide that food for your family.

Maple Spiced Bacon Squash Bites

The Groceries:

¾ C Real Maple Syrup

½ t Pumpkin Pie Spice (my favorite from scratch recipe follows in the end notes)

2 T brown sugar, packed

1/4 C Orange Juice

1 T Canola or Vegetable Oil

1/8 t Cayenne Pepper

1/8 t Smoked Paprika

1 1/2 pounds bacon

1 Cinderella or Pie type Pumpkin, sweet squash or sweet potato will work, too

The Process:

Combine the syrup, pumpkin pie spice, brown sugar, orange juice, oil, pepper and paprika in a small sauce pan and bring just to a simmer to bloom the spices.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Cut the squash into 1/3 inch thick slices and then into bacon width pieces. (about 60-65 pieces of squash will fill your cookie sheet and use the 1.5 pounds of bacon) Toss the squash with 1/3 cup of the sauce.

Cut bacon slices into thirds.  Wrap around the seasoned squash bites and lay seam side down on a parchment paper lined rimmed cookie sheet. (The parchment paper will make clean up a snap! Don’t use waxed paper, the bacon grease will melt it and it will be a mess.) Leave ¼ inch between each row and column on your cookie sheet.

Bake the bites at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until the bacon is rendered and looks to be getting done.  Take the rest of the syrup mixture and baste the bites with it.  Return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes watching that the glaze doesn’t overbrown.

Serve immediately or put in a crockpot on low with any remaining glaze drizzled across the top.

Notes:

You can make the pieces of squash larger, just allow for more baking time and be ready to throw a piece of tinfoil across it if the bacon is cooking faster than the squash.

If you don't like the heat of Cayenne and Paprika, feel free to omit or just use a dash which is about a 1/16 of a teaspoon.

My favorite pumpkin pie spice recipe is:  

2 t Ground Cinnamon

1 t Ground Ginger

1/4 t Ground Cloves

1/8 t Ground Nutmeg