The bacon is dry cured and cold smoked over traditional Irish peat, known locally as turf. The bacon is smoked slowly for a short time over the embers of a turf fire, which produces a distinctive flavor. Jonathan Buchanan, co-owner of Buchanan Foods with his wife Lois, said Buchanan’s uses bacon from a local supplier and is fully traceable.
“The new turf smoked bacon is a development of our focus on creating deliciously different flavors for our meats,” Buchanan said in a statement. “The new bacon has a subtle smoked turf aroma when smoked and a deliciously different taste.”
Buchanan Foods operates a farm shop, and supplies meat products to delis, shops and markets across Northern Ireland. The peat-smoked bacon sells for about £2.50 for a pack of six slices.
“The new bacon is the outcome of my work to create different products that will set us apart in the marketplace,” Buchanan explained. “The company already has a reputation for producing excellent turkey products which has included meat aged in our own small Himalayan salt chamber that we’ve constructed on our farm. Our aim is to be different, offering consumers unique flavors.
“We’ve test marketed the peat smoked bacon at farmers’ markets in Northern Ireland and received very positive feedback from shoppers,” he added.
