Bacon Bacon Everywhere

My entire house still smells like bacon. And by “entire” I mean including the TOWELS in my bathroom. And I have no desire to eat bacon again for a really long time, although there are 8 partially scavenged bags of bacon still in my freezer.

But the taste test was fun and I’d like to thank Janet, Jo, Susan, Linda, and Barbara for participating; we all brought our favorite bacon dish (we had BLT sandwiches, peanutbutter and bacon sandwiches, potato soup with bacon, green beans with bacon, bacon-wrapped date appetizers and bacon & green chile crescent roll appetizers) PLUS tasted 8 different bacons including:

Getting ready...

The Taste Test

Pederson’s
I liked this one the best – it was juicy and fatty tasting (but not disgustingly so) and 3 of us liked it the best while 3 of us ranked it somewhere in the middle. Those of us that liked it noted the smoky taste, the other 3 commented on its saltiness. This one took 1st place overall in terms of taste. Pederson’s actually had the greatest disparity between the fat and protein content with the fat content (6 grams) double the actual protein (3 grams) per serving. Kudos to Pederson’s for keeping the salt to a minimum – it had the lowest amount by far at 130 mg.

Farmer John
I thought this one was pretty darn salty and ranked it mid-range – 4 of us ranked it mid-range with comments like “sweet but not smoky” “little fatty” “maple sweetness” with 2 of us ranking it in our bottom 4 with comments like “chewy” and “bland”. This one tied for 3rd place with the Applegate Naturals brand. Cooking note: this one was sticking to the pan quite a bit and difficult to flip.

Nueske’s
I found this one way too salty with 4 of us noting the very hickory smoky taste and 3 of us noting the extra saltiness. 4 of us had this one in our top 3 while 2 of us (including me) had it much closer to the bottom because of the saltiness. It had the 3rd highest salt at 298 mg. per 15 g. serving. This one tied for 2nd place with Trader Joes’ brand. Nueske’s had the 2nd to the least amount of calories per 15 gram serving at 65 calories.

Gelson’s
I found this one pretty mild but listed it in my top 3 along with one other taster, 3 of us ranked this one in our bottom 4. Most of us noted it was a little sweet, but nothing special. This brand was overall 2nd to last place in terms of taste. Cooking note: This one was the easiest to cook, nice big pieces and enough fat to not stick. Gelson’s tied Trader Joe’s for the most calories per 15 g. serving at 90 calories and coincidentally had one of the highest fat contents at 7 grams of fat per 15 g. serving. Gelson’s also had the largest amount of salt at a whopping 480 mg. per 15 gram serving.

Applegate Naturals
I thought this one was pretty mild with not much flavor – only two of us ranked it in our top 4, while everyone else had it in our bottom 4. Comments included “too thin”, “not pretty, bland”, “mild flavor reminded me of pastrami with a little sweetness”. This one tied for 3rd place with the Farmer John brand. Cooking Note: This one was the most obnoxious to cook, it feel apart completely in the pan and became sort of a scrambled bacon mess. Applegate had the least calories per 15 gram serving at 60 calories.

Trader Joes
5 of us ranked this one as in our top 4 and almost everyone noticed how sweet it was; it tasted almost exactly like honey-baked ham. This one tied for 2nd place with the Nuesk’es brand. Cooking note: This one also fell apart in the pan – the slices were so thin (both width wise and depth wise) that it was challenging. Trader Joes tied Gelson’s for the most calories per 15 g. serving at 90 calories and one of the largest amounts of fat per 15 gram serving at 7 grams.

Hormel
This was my least favorite as it tasted like I was eating a giant wad of fat. Only one of us had it as their favorite one and 4 of us ranked it at the bottom with one person holding out for the middle; comments included:can taste the fat”, “fatty flavor”, “distinctive flavor” and “big blobby fatty fat fat” (OK – that last one was my comment). This one was last place overall. Hormel also had a high amount of fat per 15 gram serving at 7 grams although managed to keep their calories slightly lower at 80 calories. This one had the 2nd largest amount of salt per 15 gram serving at 380 mg. It also appears to have used more sugar in the curing process with both sugar and dextrose.

Boars’ Head
This one ranked fairly low with 5 of us ranking it in our bottom 4 and one person placing it as their 3rd favorite. A couple of us noted that it was a little “chewy” and “mild” “no smoke flavor”.

The Ingredients

The Chemicals

Sodium Nitrate
I’m sure we all know by now the evils of sodium nitrate although it’s easy to overlook it so we don’t have to miss out on all those great hotdogs, bacon and sausages. But we are seeing more and more products going organic and “natural” because we ALL know it’s possible to make really good stuff without all the extra chemicals. See Sodium Nitrate Hazards from Livestrong.com. Super kudos to Trader Joes’ and Applegate Naturals for not using any sodium nitrates.

Other Preservatives
Sodium phosphate is a chemical compound used to change the texture of a food and prolong shelf life. Sodium Erythorbate is a chemical compound that Helps the meat cure faster and retain it’s pinkness. Once again Trader Joe’s and Applegate Naturals are able to preserve their bacon without the extra chemicals.

The Winners

I think the biggest factor to consider is the salt content so I would knock out Gelson’s and Hormel’s for their high salt content and then taste should be the next factor so I would knock out Boar’s Head (Gelson’s and Hormel’s also get double knocked out for taste). If we’re thinking about calories next we would knock out Gelson’s (again) and Trader Joes which had the highest calories. That leaves us with Pederson’s, Farmer Johns, Nueskes, and Applegate Naturals. So if you’re concerned about the chemicals, Applegate Naturals would be the winner. If you are okay with the extra chemicals and want the best tasting one (overall), then Pederson’s wins.

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