The love of bacon will never end: Bacon Jerky

Just say the word bacon and people’s ears and taste buds perk up. Alan and Nicola Irving know the power of bacon all too well, producing a wide range of local pork and bacon products for sale at the City Market Downtown, including their already popular bacon chop. But with the recent introduction of bacon jerky, they have taken this unofficial fifth food group to a whole new level.

Irving’s Farm Fresh Ltd, a local small scale pork farm and meat shop located in Round Hill, Alberta. The Irving’s have been in business for 6 years, raising free range Berkshire pigs and preparing their meats in their own small scale processing facility.

Bacon jerky has been at the City Market for only 3 months, but customers are already crazy for it. So we decided to go straight to Alan and learn a little more about this popular product.

Tell me about bacon jerky. What is it? How is it made?

We make it from the back bacon ends. These are the pieces that won’t slice so we found another use for them. We soak the ends to pull the salt out, then we grind it, season and dehydrate the ends in the smoker using natural hickory smoke. The end result is a moist, chewy and smoky bacon jerky.

What inspired you to make bacon jerky?

We had a lot of ends off our back bacon and we didn’t have a market or use for them. So we got creative and tried making jerky. I thought, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Once we tasted it, we instantly it loved it. The rest is history.

How do you think bacon jerky compares to other types and styles of jerky?

Bacon jerky is totally different. It’s a combination of two great things in life: bacon and jerky. It is slightly softer, making it easy to chew and eat, and it is quite subtle in flavour.

We know people are mad about bacon. Do your customers get excited for bacon jerky?

Yes. The most common reaction is “OMG, bacon jerky! We have got to have some of that.”