For a supermarket brand I really like North Country bacon. A very pronounced, smoky flavor. Probably a fairly standard amount of salt, but I’m thinking it’s flavorful enough that you can reduce overall sodium by stretching it further. Helps the wallet, too.

For flavor, I find ones labeled ”black forest” better. I like Wellshire Farms.

Also, the ones with the ”natural” cures are less likely to give me a headache, but from what I've read, I'm not so sure that MSG and nitrate headaches don't just come from overall higher sodium content correllated with those substances.

Lots of low-sodium bacon is stocked in most supermarkets. I avoid the thick cut stuff and try to buy packages that have more meat than fat showing. Turkey bacon and anything else not made from a pig is not worth the money and probably so heavily processed that it will cause you to grow a third eye.

I have some hickory smoked salt I can use for just the smokey flavor. I'm also noticing that some bacon is meatier than others. Are there "cuts" of bacon, some better than others? Wondering if I should also stock up on some "peameal" or "Canadian" bacon/Taylor ham as it is known in NJ. I know that type has less fat, don't know about flavor or salt. Have not really compared. My Mom used that kind a lot when I was growing up but I don't see it prominently in the stores.

L, there are different "cuts" of bacon, such as jowl bacon and bacon ends as well as thick and thinly sliced, or not sliced at all. Most bacon is made from pork belly, though jowl bacon is made from the jowls, of course. The fat content is dependent on the pig itself as well as whether the slices come from the top or the bottom of the belly piece.

Peameal bacon isn't bacon at all, it's cured pork loin rolled in cornmeal and sliced into thin slices. It was originally rolled in dried and ground yellow peas, hence the "peameal" name, but now it's pretty much all rolled in cornmeal. I've never seen it outside of Canada, and only in southern Ontario, like Toronto.

Canadian Bacon is also pork loin, cured and then smoked. It tastes a lot like ham and isn't really Canadian at all.

Taylor Ham is not ham at all, nor is it bacon, it's a "pork product" that comes in a roll that can be sliced, kind of like a more upscale Spam, LOL. And yeah, I know I'm going to hear it about that description. (grin)

There are many brands of "lower sodium" bacon, the usual Smithfield/Hormel/Oscar Mayer/etc companies nearly all sell it. I haven't tried any of it, so I can't make a recommendation as to brand.

Annie

You can't beat the quality of bacon/guanciale from Zingerman's or Nueskes.

Can you get good smoked ham hocks where you live? Those make a wonderful broth for beans of any kind, including cooked green beans.

We have an Amish market near here and that is where I get them. I bought some one time from a grocery store and they were so bad that I just buried them in the backyard. But, the ones from the Amish market are supreme!

I stew them up with a bit of onion until the meat falls from the bone. Then, that broth is the BEST!

Some of us are lucky enought to have some market near other than the grocery stores and can, at times, find some gem like this.

They will add more flavor than bacon ever could.

I bought some uncrued bacon one time and never again. It had none of the nice flavor that you expect to get from bacon, so, why bother?

I grew up with beans cooked with salt pork but I dont cook like that very much. Once in a while I will get a couple of ham hocks from the Amish market and enjoy it very much.

I love some good bacon but it has been years since I bought any bacon.

i dont think that peameal bacon and Taylor ham are the same . I have had both and the Taylor Pork Roll is more like a sausage made with ground meat, wheras, the peameal bacon was a whole piece of cured meat.

Hubs is from New Jersey and his mother used Taylor ham a great deal. They loved those hard rolls that seemed to exist no where else but Jersey and they make Taylor ham and roll.

As an aside - to cook bacon use the oven. Put them on a crinkled piece of foil (or a rack) to wick away juices as they cook. Put in cold oven and set it for 400F. Bake 15-20 minutes depending on how crisp you like.

My son gave me a Christmas gift of a 6 month subscription to Bacon Freak. Not the most economically priced bacon but so delicious and very different - 2 kinds every month.

Taylor Ham is a religious experience and should NEVER be compared to bacon!

Well, I bought some for hubs once and thought, "Hmmm, Canadian bacon." But perhaps it was mislabeled. NJ born and raised hubs said it was what he grew up eating, so maybe his family never had the real deal Taylor ham or else they called Canadian bacon Taylor ham. I do find the name "Canadian bacon" kind of odd since it's not necessarily Canadian. However, I don't know what else to call it other than "Taylor ham" which I am finding out now is wrong. Who were the Taylors??

I would happily get ham for the beans, but really can't get good ham. Sometimes we buy a whole ham and get lucky and it is excellent. I have three huge bags of really awful leftover ham in the freezer right now. Not going to risk experimenting with it on my home grown green beans . . . as for ham hocks, I dunno. I used to see them back east in PA at our farm market. Never made that big of a pot of beans and I am mostly vegetarian, so didn't try one. Can't get good ham here, but the pork is excellent so might be worth a try next time I make beans . . . don't make them that often. With just me and hubs, it takes us forever to use up a lb. of beans. I have two big containers of bean soup in the fridge right now, and hubs refuses to eat it because I made it with the cursed ham . . . sigh. He bought the ham btw, at Easter.

The Aldis around here usually have ham hocks that work well in the southern green beans if that is what you plan to make.

I get my pork hocks smoked when I have a pig slaughtered, but that's not feasible for most people.

Other than that, I buy mine at Ebel's, in "beautiful downtown Falmouth". They now have another store in Reed City, but that's kind of a long drive for you, L. They are locally grown pigs and smoked on site, not any of those big ag commercial companies and they are always good. I know the smoked meat/BBQ places are becoming quite popular, you might find locally smoked pork there or at one of those jerky places that are popping up all over.

Annie

Living in West Central Illinois….I think there is nothing like Bacon…love it. All bacon is not created equal tho. My very favorite store bought is Oscar Mayer. Recent price in our local small farming community is $10.49 for Oscar Mayer 1# pkg and I refuse to pay that.

We do our own smoking pork loins, slicing thin, vaccum seal and freeze. Makes the best sandwiches. Scrappy pieces are use for seasoning such as green beans, etc. Other brands are cheaper but still are high dollar. BLT is coming soon, what are going to do? LOL

We like prosciutto bacon. 2-3 thin slices on parchment sheet pan lined renders a pinch of fat. Most bacon packages are 30-40 percent redered fat than melts away. Shrinks and a waste. I realize i might be in a minority, but i do not care for the taste of bacon fat saved and used later on.

We use ghee, irish butter, avocado oil, and olive oil exclusively. That bacon fat is a waste for us. Full of water and fat is why it sputters and makes a mess. Procuitto bacon is devine and little is needed for a good BLT. Garden fresh tomato season is about the tomato and a good whisper of bacon.

We did like Costco bacon years ago. Our local grass fed meat farm share sometimes will add a free pound in the summer months so i do love traditional bacon.

Prosciutto is oddly considered pricey but such less waste. More flavor, less needed.

Link, HERE

Pre-covid i used to keep tid-bits of bacon and prosciutto bundles in the freezer to add to greens and pizza, frittatas, etc. Fancy, 😂

Fats like bacon never freezes solid so it is a good idea. A tiny roll of bacon right out of the freezer will chop easily for some greens or beans. (DH is over the need for pork fats in his greens now)

I'll check out Aldis. My local Meijers store carries about five brands of bacon including the store brand. Other than the "uncured" they are almost all identical in ingredients, salt content and appearance. I used to live out east three blocks from a farm market and I could get good Italian deli items including proscuitto and pancetta. Uncommon here, and in vacuum sealed packages that are small, expensive and one wonders how long they have been sitting around . . . I'm going to have to see if there are any small scale pork producers around. We just got a HUGE pork processing plant, probably 1/3 of the regional pork goes through there now. Does not seem to increase the availability of "artisnal" pork or bacons. They did have cherrywood smoked bacon, but not sure the cyanide is a good idea . . . applewood is very common here . . . they didn't have any of that today . . . I got the brand with the lowest salt, although it was a difference of about 30 mg. at best.

Aldi sells proscuitto as well.

I do not eat pork. For a smoky flavor, I like smoked salt and smoked paprika.

FWIW, Applegate Farms makes an organic chicken and apple sausage that is perfectly smoky & sweet and I use it in dishes where ham would be used normally. For instance, I make a yummy dish with green beans, mushrooms, onions and the sliced sausage over buttered rice, and I also use it to top baked mac & cheese.