bacon buying page

[Kingofturtles]

Where do you people get your bacon? My understanding is that if you want nitrate free (which I believe we do) we are going to have to go straight to a butcher? This is for all cured/sandwich meats, even if they are "all natural" like the schnieders line of "natural" stuff.

[Kata]

You can get nitrate and nitrite free bacon at almost any major supermarket, at least where I live. Hormel does a version that's not bad and pretty cheap.

[upupandaway]

I don't worry about it.

'It may surprise you to learn that the vast majority of nitrate/nitrite exposure comes not from food, but from endogenous sources within the body. In fact, nitrites are produced by your own body in greater amounts than can be obtained from food, and salivary nitrite accounts for 70-90% of our total nitrite exposure. In other words, your spit contains far more nitrites than anything you could ever eat.

It’s important to understand that neither nitrate nor nitrite accumulate in body. Ingested nitrate from food is converted into nitrite when it contacts our saliva, and of the nitrate we eat, 25% is converted into salivary nitrite, 20% converted into nitrite, and the rest is excreted in the urine within 5 hours of ingestion. Any nitrate that is absorbed has a very short half-life, disappearing from our blood in under five minutes.

And if you think you can avoid nitrates and nitrites by eating so-called “nitrite- and nitrate-free” hot dogs and bacon, don’t be fooled. These products use “natural” sources of the same chemical like celery and beet juice and sea salt, and are no more free from nitrates and nitrites than standard cured meats. In fact, they may even contain more nitrates and nitrites when cured using “natural” preservatives." '

The Nitrate and Nitrite Myth: Another Reason not to Fear Bacon

If you want to know exactly what goes into your bacon, you could always buy pork belly and do a simple wet cure in the fridge, then you'll know exactly how much salt, sugar, other flavourings etc.

[Finnegans Wake]

I buy all my meat from local farmers, all of whom offer smoked, uncured bacon. No sugar, no nitrates or nitrites. No worries.

[yodiewan]

I second upupandaway that nitrates should not be a huge concern. I am more concerned with what the pig was fed and how it was raised. The feed has a dramatic effect on the pig's fatty acid composition: Dear Mark: Bacon Fat Stability, Noise Machines, and Pig Feed | Mark's Daily Apple

[namelesswonder]

If you do get it from the butcher, you're better off buying pork belly (what bacon slices are cut from) and making it yourself. Then you can control exactly what goes on it!

[Damiana]

If you're just eating a few slices a day and your body doesn't react very negatively to nitrates, I don't see a problem with normal bacon.

[Dr. Bork Bork]

I like the hormel uncured stuff

[Kimi]

Whole Foods doesn't sell any bacon with Nitrites/ates. Trader Joe's also has their own brand that is preservative-free.

[Balance]

The Costco's in my area now sell uncured nitrite/nitrate free bacon from Niman Ranch. The Whole Foods, Trader Joes and my local supermarket and farmers market all sell uncured nitrite free bacon as well.