Cuts

A side of bacon produces a wide range of different products for consumers to enjoy. Most rasher products come from the middle and side eg back middle and streaky, whereas the fore-end and gammon provide a wide variety of steak products.

Cures
The selection of different cures can often be bewildering to consumers but here is a guide which retailers could use to help them:

What is Curing?

Bacon is pork, which has been preserved in a salt solution or brine. This process is known as curing. Ingredients can be added or additional processes carried out to give the bacon the variety of flavours available today. Salt is an essential part of the production of bacon as it acts as a preservative. However, modern bacon production methods enable producers to offer a wider range of cures and steps have been taken to reduce the amount of salt in the production of bacon. This means that the typical salt content of bacon is now between 3-4 per cent compared with levels of 5-7 per cent 155 years ago.

Wiltshire Cure A traditional cure using brine, which originated in Wiltshire. Dry Cure A traditional cure where dry salt is used, rather than a brine solution. Mild cure or low salt In addition, the Danish Industry has been active in launching new 'low salt' bacon products which contain only about 2.5 per cent salt. Sweet Cure A cure in which sugars or syrups eg maple, are added to the cure

Smoked or Unsmoked? Smoked Bacon After curing, the bacon is smoked using wood chippings or other smoking processes. The rind is usually a dark golden colour and the lean browner than unsmoked bacon. It has a distinctive flavour. Unsmoked Bacon Cured bacon which has not been smoked is usually described as 'unsmoked'.