Zingerman's Nueske's Cherrywood Smoked Bacon

Nitrate free bacon from Nueske's in Wisconsin.

From the same folks who bring us our classic house Applewood Smoked Bacon comes a bacon that's cured with nitrate from celery juice, not sodium nitrate. Not to get too technical on you, but using a vegetable-based nitrate means the USDA lets them call it "nitrate free." Don't ask me why.

What I'm most concerned with is how it tastes.

The answer, not surprising given the source, is very good. It's smoked with whole Wisconsin cherrywood logs for just over twenty four hours. If you're familiar with the Applewood Bacon we carry, then you'll find the flavor is milder, the salt a little lighter, the smokiness a little more present.

There is one other strange upshot from using celery juice. The USDA requires the label to say "uncured bacon." That's just more technical mumbo jumbo. This is as cured as bacon gets.