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My understanding is that bacon itself is not the culprit of the possible (note — possible) carcinogen. The sodium nitrate that is often used as a preservative i
by Fezzik 3y ago
My understanding is that bacon itself is not the culprit of the possible (note — possible) carcinogen. The sodium nitrate that is often used as a preservative is. Nitrate-free bacon is easy to find though.
- malnourish 3y agoNitrate-free (or, "no nitrates added") bacon still contains nitrates. About the same amount as standard bacon, and in some cases, more. https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/how_tos/5734-nitrate-free-bacon https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/how_tos...
- raspyberr 3y agoIn the UK, we have nitrate-free bacon available that is actually nitra(i)te free: https://www.betternaked.com/products/better-naked-unsmoked-back-bacon-rashers/ https://www.betternaked.com/products/better-naked-unsmoked-b...
- malnourish 3y agoI'm intrigued. That seems a fair bit different than the uncured bacon I'm familiar with in the US [0], but I would certainly give it a try. [0]: https://applegate.com/products/natural-thick-cut-bacon https://applegate.com/products/natural-thick-cut-bacon
- loeg 3y ago(Note that this product is actually cured with nitrates via the celery powder in the ingredients list.)
- copperx 3y agoAh, the magic of marketing. It's exactly the same, except one uses celery. No, in fact, if I remember correctly, the nitrates used in the "uncured" process were even higher than the normal process.
- toolz 3y agoI don't see anything on that site that says anything other than nitrates weren't added. Where are you seeing that it's actually nitrate free?
- malnourish 3y agoUnder "Dietary information" at the bottom of the page, it says "Nitrite-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free,[sic]"
- toolz 3y agoI wouldn't be surprised if that's misleading considering the other article was suggesting nitrite precursors are usually what's in the food later to be turned into nitrite, but I'd love to be wrong. You could simply measure the levels of nitrite before any exists and the end product might still have just as much.
- maxerickson 3y agoThe one article is talking about celery juice being stealth nitrates. It's not something that is in the pork itself. The only candidate would be natural flavors, and I sort of doubt that they would get away with that.
- hedora 3y agoIn the US, they are required by law to write nitrate free if they add celery salt, which is 100% nitrates. That site lists “natural flavors” as an ingredient. I wonder if celery salt counts as a natural flavor in the UK. This UK producer: https://www.primalcut.co.uk/post/nitrate-free-bacon-bringing-home-the-truth https://www.primalcut.co.uk/post/nitrate-free-bacon-bringing... Contains the weasel words I pasted in below, which are verbatim what the US producers that use celery salt claim. Also, they don’t list the natural flavors. I’d bet they’re using celery salt, but that UK labeling laws don’t make them break it out as a separate ingredient: > Primal Cut free-from naked bacon contains only fresh organic fruit sugars and nitrates present in the natural raw organic seasonings.
- tptacek 3y agoTo what everybody else is saying, I'll add that by the US definition, that's not bacon; it's back bacon, which is a loin cut, radically different than American bacon, which I believe you lot call "streaky bacon".
- CMCDragonkai 3y agoInteresting, I didn't realise that but I always preferred the non-streaky kind.
- pleb_nz 3y agoBeing a global community, would we assume bacon means all types of bacon cut? I have been but maybe I've been wrong. Surely we're not just referring to streaky bacon or American bacon
- tptacek 3y agoYes, we would assume here that bacon means pork belly bacon. The reason nitrates are such a big deal with American bacon is that they're an important part of the flavor of the bacon (nitrates create "hammy" flavor). If there's genuinely un-cured pork loin "bacon" in Germany or New Zealand or whatever, that's great, but it's a less interesting claim than that there's real nitrate/nitrite-free American bacon (I don't believe there is).
- pleb_nz 3y agoSorry my question wasn't about nitrates. It was about the use of the term bacon being used to define all bacon's as we're a global community or whether people in general on this community would think of bacon being used for only streaky bacon.
- tptacek 3y agoI totally understand. I know "bacon" is a thing everywhere, and it doesn't mean cured strips of pork belly everywhere. I guess I'd say "bacon" in popular culture refers to the American product, whose flavor is heavily derived from the interaction of sodium nitrite with pork belly. To tell an American "you can get bacon without the nitrites" is a little like saying "you could just go eat an apple". True, but irrelevant! :)
- tracker1 3y agoBetter stop eating celery or anything containing it if you're really concerned about nitrates.
- 01100011 3y agoGreen leafy vegetables contain a hell of a lot more nitrate than cured meat does. Sure, there's less protein in vegetables, so less chance of nitrosamines forming, unless you're eating a complete meal, in which case... figure it out. Also, vegetables contain anti-oxidants and things which offset some of the nitrates, but this just seems like a reason to eat some vegetables with your cured meats.
- hosteur 3y agoI cute and smoke my own bacon. I do not use nitrite. Also in my country organic bacon has zero nitrate in it.
- nomel 3y agoA big problem with the these "nitrate free" forms is that Vitamin C was required in the "nitrate" versions, to prevents the formation of some of the carcinogens [1]. In the "nitrate free" versions, it is not! I make sure to drink orange juice, or take a vitamin C, with any form of bacon. [1] https://locavoredelivery.com/blog/some-facts-about-bacon-without-nitrates/ https://locavoredelivery.com/blog/some-facts-about-bacon-wit...
- pleb_nz 3y agoOrange juice is a huge spike to the insulin levels. As the saying goes, eat your juice, don't drink it.
- loeg 3y agoNitrate-free bacon isn't bacon. The stuff that is marketed as nitrate-free isn't -- it's a dubiously moral marketing gimmick that is essentially untrue.