Is there such a thing as "healthy" ham to season soup beans?

Question

I'm from the South, so soup beans, cornbread, coleslaw and homegrown tomatoes are a staple in our home. However, I don't care for all the sodium nitrites and preservatives that are typically found in seasoned ham or streaked meat.

Is there an all-natural, healthy alternative that would still give beans that great ham flavor without pumping our bodies full of man-made junk?

Answer 1

Just use a ham bone.  That was how it was done years ago.  The flavor comes through beautifully.

Schaller & Weber now offer a line of preservative free meats.  Their Prague ham, which is smoked would be a good choice.

Answer 2

probably

Answer 3

You can buy turkey ham, but it's still loaded with preservatives.  I just use a ham bone, with very little meat on it.  It's the marrow in the bone that flavors it the most anyways.   Even liquid smoke would have alot of preservatives, and bacon too:) .......

Answer 4

I use a smoked, center cut ham steak and I chop it into pieces and put that in with my beans, soups and stews.  I also use smoked ham hocks to flavor long cooking dried beans.  You could also use smoked turkey legs to flavor beans.

Answer 5

http://www.dmoz.org/Shopping/Food/Meat/P...

You could check this website to see if any of the producers are

located near you or if they ship their products to a store near you.

Good luck.

Answer 6

I have not looked, but it would be difficult to find ham or smoked meats without nitrites/nitrates.  Those chemicals are essential to ensuring that people don't get sick from spoiled meats.

However, with that said, I would imagine that there is a product without the nitrites that you can use... I would guess that it's expensive and can be found at a place like Whole Paycheck Market...er... I mean Whole Foods Market.

Answer 7

Smoke your own meat.  Or find oragnically smoked hams and turkey to use.  Turkey is leaner.  Tasso (pork) is also a very lean choice for seasoning.