Nitrate Free Ham

After True Love was told to say off of nitrates I thought we would never have ham again. Then we went to Whole Foods in Portland yesterday. Not only did they have it, buy a store official told her that it was a nitrate free store! Not sure that is true, but would be nice. This morning we enjoyed nitrate free ham slices that were delicious, along with scrambled free range eggs and raisin toast. Yum!

I've never heard of this before. May I ask why she was told to avoid nitrates? (...seems like a very specific food component to call out...)

I've never heard of this before. May I ask why she was told to avoid nitrates? (...seems like a very specific food component to call out...)

Don't know about Carl's wife's situation, but some allergies have been blamed on food additives like nitrates. Not sure if it's ever been proven.

The real problem with nitrate additions is that when processed meat is cooked at high heat, nitrates turn into nitrites and then nitrosamines, which are considered carcinogenic: http://www.eatingforenergy.com/nitrates ... trosamine/

Maybe Paul W. has a better response in store for us.

Nitrates and nitrites are commonly used as preservatives in processed meats such as bacon and ham, and have been for centuries. The issue is that nitrates and nitrites potentially can be transformed into nitrosamines during the digestive process, and nitrosamines have been found to be carcinogenic. There were some studies done that showed an increased cancer risk among consumers of meat cured with nitrates and nitrites. When I searched the web just now for "nitrates and ham" I found both "nitrates are harmful" reports citing these studies, and "nitrate danger is a myth" reports citing later peer review that debunked the original studies.

This might be vaccines and autism all over again, I don't know.

I personally have been buying uncured bacon lately because I don't need the extra shelf life that curing gives, and I think that producers of the uncured product generally pay more care and attention to what they're doing, so it's likely to be a better quality product. But I will still eat cured bacon and ham and whatnot.

-Paul W.

I personally have been buying uncured bacon lately because I don't need the extra shelf life that curing gives, and I think that producers of the uncured product generally pay more care and attention to what they're doing, so it's likely to be a better quality product. But I will still eat cured bacon and ham and whatnot.

-Paul W.

Exactly. It's like those who prefer "natural" wine. If someone takes the time and expense to produce a product sans a great deal of processing or intervention, then a consumer might feel quality is better assured.

Since I discovered that uncured bacon (and other uncured products) have as near a shelf life as the processed stuff, I saw no reason to buy the latter. In fact, it's quite possible the latter is not as fresh as we are led to believe, since the processing could have been done a long time ago, masked by chemical additions.

I often wonder how many people realize where a great deal of supermarket garlic comes from and how it is handled before it gets here from Asia. It's deplorable, and I won't eat it.

I've never heard of this before. May I ask why she was told to avoid nitrates? (...seems like a very specific food component to call out...)

Because they cause inflammation, and her dietician told her to stay off them.

Thanks, Carl, Thomas, and Paul.

Thomas, when you discuss garlic do you mean raw heads or jarred stuff?

Thanks, Carl, Thomas, and Paul.

Thomas, when you discuss garlic do you mean raw heads or jarred stuff?

The raw heads, Jeff.

In China, where most of the garlic comes from, not only are they sprayed with all kinds of chemicals, a portion of the farmers use raw sewage water as fertilizer; then, the heads are chlorine-treated to get that blinding whitemess. I suppose the chlorine kills some of the sewage bacteria, but what a way to go ...

I can't imagine what's done to the jarred stuff.

Bleh.