Celery Juice an alternative to Pink Salt/Sodium Nitrite for Bacon, Sausages, etc.?

So something I'm sure a lot of us Foodies have seen in the market recently are products by such producers as Niman Ranch, Fra'Mani, etc. labelled Uncured such as Uncured Bacon, Uncured Sausages/Salamis and what have you which claim to be uncured because they do not employ added Sodium Nitrites/Nitrates. 

Upon closer inspection of the ingredient list however I was able to read through the lines. Why do so many of them list Celery Juice or Natural Flavors as an ingredient in something that would otherwise be uncommon in such meats?After doing a bit of digging in Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking", I discovered the fallacy to this supposedly healthier alternative to added Nitrites and Nitrates; many vegetables such as Celery, fennel, and broccoli naturally contain Nitrites and Nitrates and typically contain even higher concentrations of Nitrites/Nitrates than the equivalent amount of Pink Salt/TCM. So even though it may claim to be "uncured", these products may contain even higher levels of Nitrites than the regular cured versions! 

However, from a home perspective Celery juice may be a more accessible alternative to Pink Salt/TCM for most people. So what I'm curious about is has anyone experimented with this, and how much celery juice to use? I would love to hear your informed opinion about this, especially if you or anyone you know are Professionals in this area. I look forward to your replies!

Very interesting John!
Here is what Niman Ranch says:
"The USDA defines uncured to indicate products that have not been preserved by adding sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate or a salt cure. So when you see uncured on the label, the label is informing you that the product does not contain added sodium nitrate or sodium nitrite.
Despite USDA regulations, it's probably more accurate to say that our uncured products are naturally cured. Instead of adding nitrate or nitrite chemicals, we use celery juice, a source of naturally occurring nitrates."

Guess one would need a formula to know just how much celery juice to add for curing.

Thanks Bob! That confirms my suspicions. If I was a betting man I'd say that Niman Ranch has spent a pretty penny on determining what Percentage of nitrite they need in their product to achieve a similar result, or at least what percentage of nitrite exists in the celery juice they are using thereby determining how much they should use. I wonder if some experimentation is necessary...?

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JohnLocher:
However, from a home perspective Celery juice may be a more accessible alternative to Pink Salt/TCM for most people. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Pink salt's cheap enough to mail order I think most people who do this just order a pound and they're pretty much set.

http://www.butcher-packer.com/...37_12&products_id=56

That being said it should be fairly easy to experiment with celery juice if you're so inclined - you would ballpark the amount (and I have no idea what that would be) and then go by the texture - cured bacon's pretty firm.

John, great observation!

I knew this about celery and happen to pick up a pack of some really great looking bacon at a gourmet shop. The bacon was a beautiful shade of pink but was listed as "all natural" and "nitrate free." Well closer inspection revealed celery juice as an ingredient. I almost said something to someone there, but figured it wouldn't make a bit of difference.

Its one more example of how knee-jerk reactionary everyone is. No one bothers to think for themselves. The assumption is that nitrates are bad (which they probably aren't) and that if nitrates aren't listed they aren't there (but they probably are, especially if the meat is pink, or your veggies have been fertilized).

Back to the original question. I use a bit of celery seed in my rubs so I thought celery juice might be an interesting addition to my rib recipe. I purchased a juicer attachment for my grinder, and juiced a bunch of old celery. It ended up tasting bitter (most likely due to its age) and I never used it.

I just got a big bunch of celery (and only needed 2 stalks), maybe I'll juice it today and see if I can't use it some how.

I know Kevin had mention celery juice cures before, he may have more info on this topic.