A TF version of would you rather.

[blueridgewoman]

I'm in Central Virginia near the Shenandoah Valley and we're really blessed to have access to pastured meat of every description, pastured eggs, raw milk, and pretty much a ton of great quality food options. Realistically, we're utterly spoiled.

However, I have checked with every single farmer who does grass fed or forest fed pork in the area and cannot find a SINGLE one who does naturally cured bacon. Each one uses nitrates/nitrites and a quick cure process instead.

We all really love bacon in our house and do well with pork, but basically, my options at this point are to buy organic or natural bacon without nitrates and MSG or to buy grass fed (or forest fed) bacon with those chemicals added.

Which would you rather eat? I've been buying the nitrate free stuff at the store rather than the farm but I'm potentially going to buy a case of Applegate organic bacon (also without nitrates) and before I did, I thought I'd get other feelings on the matter.

[FairyRae]

What about making your own bacon (if you have grass fed pork available)? I pulled this from the gapshelp yahoo group:

I buy pork bellies from the market (have them remove the rind then dehydrate it and use it for dog toys). I cover it in salt (about 2 rounded tsp on each side) then drizzle some honey over it. Put it in a ziploc bag and try to get out as much air as possible. Put in the refrigerator for about 7-10 days, turning every day or so. Slice and fry it up. It took a while to get the hang of how much salt to use. I fry a test piece first, then if I used too much, I can soak it for a few minutes before frying to pull out some of the excess salt.

I suppose you could play around with some different spices and such, but I haven't ventured there yet.

I haven't done it, but it sounds cool...

I don't know what I'd do--we don't do much bacon here...I'd probably do either as long as there wasn't corn in the spices (one of ds's food sensitivities)! But maybe I'd lean toward the grass fed...

Which one is cheaper?? That might make my decision easier...

[snowbunny]

I'm in the same conundrum. The sausage through our CSA is pastured; however, the processor adds MSG. I'm not keen on that but, frankly, we accept it because 1) it keeps our money local, 2) I know the pork fat is loaded with vitamin D because the pigs are raised outdoors and that's important to me 3) we don't react to glutamates which are naturally found in many foods and 4) it's a only a very tiny amount and we don't make breakfast sausage a huge portion of our diet, you know?

Ask your provider if they can change processors. Due to enough concern raised from CSA recipients, our rancher is in the process of switching to a processor who doesn't use MSG, nitrites or nitrates.

[Magelet]

I think I would go for the grassfed. Bacon is such a fatty meat, and having that grassfed bacon fat would really be a boon. Also, I've come to the conclusion over time and some research and talking to a lot of people that nitrates aren't really a horrible evil. Yes, naturally occuring nitrates are probably better than not synthetic, but a little bit of nitrates won't kill you.

Salt peter, which is potassum nitrate, has been used to preserve meats since the middle ages, and was used as a salt throughout the world. Nitrates also occur in leafy veggetables, and some other vegetables. (celery, carrots, spinach, kale, all sorts of veggies).

That's just my opinion/beleif. I definitely think that a processed/manufactured nitrate is probably not as healthy as a naturally occuring one, but I really don't worry about it too much.