Where can you get this? Are there any national brands that are nitrate free? Also any that are not cured with sugar? Thanks Paul

Don't worry about nitrite. It's the only thing in the bacon that stands between you and botulism. Nitrates have gotten a bad rap. It has been reported that people normally consume more nitrates from their vegetable intake than from the cured meat products they eat. Spinach, beets, radishes, celery, and cabbages are among the vegetables that generally contain very high concentrations of nitrates. The nitrate content of vegetables is affected by maturity, soil conditions, fertilizer, variety, etc. It has been estimated that 10 percent of the human exposure to nitrite in the digestive tract comes from cured meats and 90 percent comes from vegetables and other sources. Nitrates can be reduced to nitrites by certain microorganisms present in foods and in the gastrointestinal tract. This has resulted in nitrite toxicity in infants fed vegetables with a high nitrate level. No evidence currently exists implicating nitrite itself as a carcinogen.

Yes, even without the addition of sodium nitrate to meats during the curing process, the meat will still have naturally occuring nitrates from the smoking process.

Just a thought about sugar in bacon .. I've noticed that the reduced-salt versions of national brands tend to also have little or no sugar in them, so that's what I've been buying. Now regular bacon tastes unbearably salty to me. Only problem -- reduced-salt bacon tends to spoil quicker without all that "preservative" in it So eat it up within a few days of opening the pkg, or what I do is cook the whole package at once, then freeze in portions. They can be microwaved, or heat up quickly at the edge of the skillet when frying eggs

Doreen

Thank you for your replys. I was thinking of trying the low salt/low sugar.

Now that I have had the nitrate free bacon (I get it at Trader Joe's), I think it's much better tasting than regular old bacon. It's less salty and doesn't make me bloat up.

Doreen,
I didn't know that the low-salt bacon had less sugar too!!! I have been driving over the border into Wisconsin to get freshly made bacon. It tastes amd looks great but the storekeeper has no idea what is in it. As long as the low salt has less sugar, I think I'll stick with that one
Sandy