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NATCHEZ — Sherra Hardy Arnold is a Natchez native who enjoys cooking, but that wasn’t always the case.

“When I was growing up, I didn’t want anything to do with cooking or cleaning,” Arnold said.

However, since her children are away and it’s just Arnold and her husband of 39 years, Peter, she has begun to teach herself to cook using the Internet and YouTube videos.

Arnold has been experimenting with baking sourdough bread and seems to have worked out all of the kinks.

“Ruth Powers gave me some sourdough starter, and I promptly killed it. Then I went online and decided I would learn how to make my own starter, and I probably wasted 20 pounds of flour doing that. So I ordered a starter from Amazon, and that seems to have done the trick. I’m about eight loaves in now,” she said.

Her sourdough bread has been the perfect surface for spreading her jalapeno bacon jam, a recipe Arnold recently shared on the Natchez Cook Club Facebook page.

“My sister was here recently for three weeks, and we did some cooking together,” Arnold said. “She found that recipe and gave it to me, and we made it. It’s wonderful!”

Arnold’s sister, Gwen Hardy, lives in Jacksonville, Florida, and just left for home on Thursday. Arnold said she was already missing her.

“I enjoyed her visit so much. We went out to eat a lot, went to the farmers’ market and had watermelon and cantaloupe and tomatoes and made cucumber salads and coleslaw,” while visiting, she said.

Arnold said the jalapeno bacon jam recipe in her sister’s handwriting is something she will treasure.

“When I made it I wish I had not cooked it down as much. I wish I had left it a little thinner. That way, when I take it out of the refrigerator, it would not be so thick,” she said.

She has been heating her sourdough bread and charring it in a skillet, then topping it with a tomato and the jalapeno bacon jam, which she said is delicious.

Arnold is the mother of two children: son Nicholas lives in Dallas and works for IBM, and daughter Ali lives in Austin and is a communication specialist at the University of Texas Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center.

She and her husband, Peter, have been married for 39 years.

Jalapeno Bacon Jam

1 pound thick cut sliced bacon

1 large yellow onion, finely diced (about 1-½ cups)

3 medium jalapenos, seeded and diced

2 tsp. garlic, minced

½ cup light brown sugar, packed

⅓ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup maple syrup

1 tsp. chili powder

Cook bacon until crispy, and place on a paper towel-lined plate

Prepare the pan: Leave about ¼ cup of bacon grease in the pan. Reduce heat to medium-low.

Caramelize onions and peppers: Add diced onions and jalapenos, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until onions are caramelized, about 15-20 minutes, stirring often.

Add the remaining ingredients. Mix in the garlic, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, chili powder, and cooked bacon.

Simmer for 7 to 10 minutes or until thickened into a jam-like consistency.