I meant Nitrite -- not Nitrate -- free bacon

[Smokeville]

Does anyone have any experience with this? I've been told that if the bacon is cured without nitrates (i.e. salt and sugar only), so long as it is either frozen or consumed soon after smoking, it will be safe.

Thoughts?

Thanks, Rich

[Habanero Smoker]

I have purchased nitrite free bacon but never made any. It is safe, and after it is open it will store in your refrigerator for around 7 - 10 days. It will store nicely in the freezer. As a standard practice, I freeze my bacon that I cure with nitrites if I don't think it will be used within 10 days.

It has a flavor closer to salty fresh pork then the bacon like flavor you get from nitrite cured bacon; which you may be used to. If you are going to make your own here is a good recipe by Alton Brown:
Scrap Iron Chef's Bacon

[ArnieM]

Hi Rich,

My butcher does a salt 'cure'.  It's basically to dehydrate the belly some.  I don't know if he uses any sugar.  I'll have to check.

He pours off liquid twice a day for three days and then does a hickory smoke.  It comes out gray rather than red.  The nitrite makes the meat red.  It doesn't look as appetizing as the store-bought stuff but really tastes good.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

You need to be a bit careful with the names here.  In the past curing of meats commonly used a mixtures of nitrates(e.g. potassium nitrate = saltpeter) and nitrites as either the potassium or sodium salts.  The use of nitrate salts is no longer permitted for curing bacon in the U.S. Nitrite salts, however, remain in use in most cured bacon.  There are nitrite-free cured bacon products in the market.

Of the two salts (nitrates and nitrites) used in curing nitrites are the major preservative.  Nitrate served primarily as a color preservative (keeps that nice pink color rather than gray).  I see no problems as far as food safety is concerned with nitrate free - in the U.S. we've been doing it commercially for about 30 years.

The issue of nitrates and nitrites in curing became a topic of hot debate in the 1970's and the FDA began the ban on the use of nitrates in bacon (and only bacon) in 1978.  Bacon was singled out because it tends to be cooked at high temps, and nitrates under those conditions can be converted to nitrosamines (generally bad stuff).

[Habanero Smoker]

BLS has a point. I didn't pickup on the word nitrate. Though nitrates are still regularly used outside of the U.S.A.; here they are not allowed to be commercially used for any cured item that will be cooked. The only commercial use where nitrates are allowed are for dry cured sausages and meats that require no cooking. On the other hand Morton's Tender Quick contains sodium nitrate, and it is USDA approve for home use to cure bacon. When Morton's Tender Quick is used as directed, any residual sodium nitrate amount that may be left in the meat, after it has been cured and by the time it is cooked is well below any unsafe levels.

Here is short explanation of some of the the most used cures in the U.S.A.
Curing Salts

Most supermarkets carry nitrite free bacon. Before you make some purchase a package and try it. You will generally find it on the top shelf where the rest of the bacon is displayed.

[Smokeville]

Hey folks, I have to apologize. I got confused, and really meant nitrite as is in Insta Cure, Prague Powder, etc.

Habanero Smoker, I've followed your recipe for maple bacon with great results; I'm hoping to leave out the Prague Powder.

Thanks, Rich

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Well that clarifies your question, but complicates the answer. Can you do it? Yes, but it comes with risks. First you will need to approach as uncured pork and treat and handle it accordingly. Basically it will be smoked or cooked pork belly, and will have a shelf life equal to that of any other similarly cooked (or uncooked) pork product.

Just so you know, most if not all "nitrite free" bacon, aka "uncured bacon" sold commercially is anything but nitrite free. This is an issue with labeling regulations. Bacon produced without the addition of synthetic nitrites (sodium or potassium) must be labled as uncured. There are a number of brands of uncured bacon in US markets. All of the brands that I know of, including Hormel's Natural Choice uncured bacon use celery juice derivatives as a source of nitrate / nitrite in the curing. Yes they are cured, but because they do not use synthetic nitrite salts they must be labelled as uncured and may also be considered organic. SO this is essentially a labeling issue, not truly one of contents.

Check out Hormel's webpages for their Natural Choice uncured bacon ...
http://www.hormelfoodservice.com/brands/natural-choice-uncured-bacon.aspx

On this pages check out the Ingredients and note "celery juice powder"
http://www.hormelfoodservice.com/products/product-details.aspx?itemno=51252

Here's a good reference white paper on natural and organic cured meat products - see some of the analytical numbers on page 6+
http://www.meatscience.org/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=5260

edit - another of those afterthoughts.  In "nitrite free" products like the Hormel bacon noted above the celery derivatives (or other sources) typically provide a natural source of nitrate.  From these nitrite is produced during the "cure" via bacteria that convert the nitrate to nitrite during the process.  A fine point in the Hormel ingredients is "Cultured Celery Juice Powder", the culture is/are the bacteria.  Typical starter cultures used in sausage making will do the job,

[Habanero Smoker]

Hey folks, I have to apologize. I got confused, and really meant nitrite as is in Insta Cure, Prague Powder, etc.

Habanero Smoker, I've followed your recipe for maple bacon with great results; I'm hoping to leave out the Prague Powder.

Thanks, Rich

It's an easy mistake to make. You can safely cure you bacon without using nitrites by using Alton Brown's recipe that I posted and get a maple flavor. He uses salt as the cured. I would substitute 2 cups of maple syrup for the 1 cup of molasses. You may be able to go with 1 cup, but I'm not sure you will get enough flavor. Also use Grade B maple syrup, that is the darker color syrup. It has a stronger flavor.

Since he is using the term salt, I'm pretty sure he is referring to pickling salt (non-iodize table salt). If it was kosher salt, he would have indicated that. The apple cider to also give your bacon additional flavors. The only thing I would add to Alton's recipe is that you should overhaul your bacon daily. That means reposition the meat and stir up the brine. As I mentioned previously it has a refrigeration self life of about 10 days, that is about comparable to bacon cured with a nitrite.

BLSH;
Some one in the past posted a link to Organic Bacon that cure the meat with celery juice.  Next time I go to the store I will have to check the nitrite free bacon that I occasionally purchase to recheck the ingredients. Since it was grayish in color, I don't believe any nitrates in any form were added during the curing process.

I don't under stand this part of your statement: "Typical starter cultures used in sausage making will do the job,"

[BuyLowSellHigh]

HabS,  there are starter cultures used in sausage making specifically for the reduction of nitrate to nitrite.  These are NOT the lactic acid prodcuing ones used for acidification.

From the white paper reference I noted above, page 7:

A critical ingredient for processed meats with natural nitrate sources is a nitrate-reducing bacterial culture, if typical cured meat
properties are the final objective. The necessity of bacterial reduction of nitrate to nitrite for meat curing was discovered in the
1890's (Pegg and Shahidi, 2000) and nitrate reducing cultures have been commercially available for several years. Most applications
of these cultures have been for dry sausage, where a longterm reservoir of nitrite during drying is desirable and where subtle
flavor contributions from the culture are considered important (Olesen et al., 2004). The lactic acid starter cultures used for fermented
sausage, primarily Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus acidilactici, do not reduce nitrate. However, cultures of coagulase
negative cocci such as Kocuria (formerly Micrococcus) varians, Staphylococcus xylosus, Staphylococcus carnosus and others will reduce
nitrate to nitrite. These organisms can achieve nitrate reduction at 15–20°C but are much more effective at temperatures over 30°C
(Casaburi et al., 2005).

There is more in the white paper, that;s just the starter.  That paper also provides some formulations.

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks. I may take a look at it.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

You'll also find more information on nitrate reducing cultures on the Domowe Fermented Sausages website under Starter Cultures

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/fermented-sausages/starter-cultures.htm

[ArnieM]

Eric, where the dickens do you find all of this info?

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Arnie, most of it is carryover from my 30-year career as a research chemist. The food processing and packaging industries were always in the top ten of our key markets. If there was a big issue we probably were involved, somehow.

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks for the information. The Weliny Domowe site is a great site. I'm very familiar with that site