Updated: 25 January 2023

Bacon, good or bad?

Some people see nitrites in bacon as inherently bad. This may or may not be true, depending on how the bacon is formulated. See The Truth About Meat Curing: What the popular media do NOT want you to know!

The bacon we formulates is a superfood!

Oake Woods & Co

Richard Bosman and I joined forces. We created the South African firm, Oake Woods & Co, in honour of the legendary firm with the same name that existed in Gillingham, Dorset and was owned by the son of William Oake, who invented mild cured bacon in the early 1830s. (William Oakes Mild-Cured Bacon and Mild-Cured Bacon and the Curers of Wiltshire) The son of William Oake created his own progression on his dad’s process called auto curing (Oake-Woods & Co., Ltd., Rapid, and Auto-Cured Bacon). Within the South African firm, Oake Woods & Co, Richard and I created three new bacon cures, all three progressions of the work of William Oake from Ireland, which he did in the 1830s.

Oake Woods Catering Bacon

– Plant Based Curing with Plant Matter Infusion

We designed catering bacon with 10% pure beetroot, no added nitrates and nitrites, ascorbate (vitamin C), and a unique bacon flavour pack. We choose not to add the bacteria or the plant matter to remove the nitrites or nitrates, which occur naturally in the beetroot, because of the overwhelming health benefits associated with this if it is accompanied by vitamin C and 10% pure, unprocessed beetroot juice, as is the case with this bacon! There is no chance for any elements forming from this bacon that has a role in cancer formation. If you eat this bacon, you add 10% beetroot to a meal with all the benefits of beetroot and the health benefits delineated in, “Nitrite is Physiologically Vital” and “The Human Nitrogen Cycle – Basis for Nitrite’s Physiological Value“. It is formulated according to principles set out in “Finally – Bacon, the Superfood.”

I am sharing these images with you of Oake Woods Catering Bacon.

Two Nitrite Free Brine

I mention the Nitrite-free bacon because we received communication from people expressing scepticism that such a product is even possible. It is interesting that many companies across the world use plant matter with nitrates and nitrites in, cure meat and claim “no nitrites”. I reviewed the recent “no nitrites” bacon from Woolworths. (Evaluation of Woolworths “contain no nitrites” Bacon) Their bacon contains nitrites, or let us rather say, the ones we tested contained nitrites. In contrast, we have our bacon tested in Italy and we ensure that when we claim, “no nitrites”, each batch is tested to verify the claim. This goes for both systems described below. The many critics we have that say it’s not possible are dead wrong! The real question should be, is it necessary!? That is, however, a discussion for another forum. As far as no nitrite cure is concerned, yes! It’s possible!

Without divulging any details of what we developed, which is under strict NDA, I can state that what we designed is based on two systems.

– Oxidation Reaction through Bacteria

The first system uses no nitrates or nitrites, directly or indirectly, not from plants or any other matter. Bacteria create the curing molecule, nitric oxide, from the protein in meat. Along with this, there are several strategies we use to ensure that no nitrates or nitrites are formed from the nitric oxide. Everything we use is natural!

– Using Nitrates and Nitrites from Plants and Creating Curing Molecules Through Bacteria and Plant Matter

In this system, like almost every company on earth that claims nitrite-free products do, we use nitrate and nitrite found naturally in plant matter. We make no secret of it. We then use natural products to remove any nitrates and nitrates from the meat after it has been cured. It is this last part of our design which is our unique formulations and subject to NDAs.

These two systems are exclusively available to one of our clients.

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