You have to try this Iowa bacon because it's the 'Best in America'

Brian Taylor Carlson | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption The best bacon in the country is made right here in Iowa Bacon. The word evokes images of crispy, smoked carnivorous goodness. Our mouths water just thinking about the smell of that slowly-cooked, savory, robust flavor — especially a high-quality bacon that's made right here in Iowa.

Bacon.

The word evokes images of crispy, smoked carnivorous goodness. Our mouths water just thinking about the smell of that slowly-cooked, savory, robust flavor — especially a high-quality bacon that's made right here in Iowa.

That's why Vande Rose Farms in Iowa Falls, a marketing company that specializes in heritage breed Duroc pork products, was chosen as making the best bacon in the country by America's Bacon Critic.

That's right. There's a Bacon Critic in America. His name is Scott Gold and he chose Vande Rose Farms Applewood-Smoked Artisan Dry-Cured Bacon as his top pick in the country. The article appeared on Extra Crispy, a website owned by Time, Inc., dedicated to recipes and culture of breakfast and brunch foods.

"After tasting that first slice, I knew instinctively that this wasn’t run-of-the-mill smoked pork," Gold wrote, after tasting Vande Rose Farms bacon. "Like a great lover, something about this bacon touched my soul."

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This dry-cured bacon brand took the top spot because of its harmonious balance of flavors and textures. The attention to detail that Vande Rose Farms places on its product helped to set itself apart from the final four that included Benton's Hickory Smoked Country Bacon and Broadbent's Maplewood Smoked Bacon — both from Kentucky — and Bill E's Small Batch Bacon from Alabama.

"Whether you fry it in a skillet or bake it in the oven, one taste will make your eyes reflexively close as you take a deep sigh of amazement and appreciation and think, 'Now THIS is bacon,'" Gold said.

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Each slab of bacon is hand-rubbed with a mixture of brown sugar, salt and spices and smoked over applewood chips. The curing process takes about two weeks for this artisanal bacon's rich, red-colored meat with just the right balance of fat.

"I'm happy he chose us with his expertise and I'm glad he picked the old-fashioned way of doing the curing process," said Vande Rose Farms' general manager, Jordan Jurgens, 30.

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Vande Rose Farms uses only hand-selected pigs that are fed a completely vegetarian diet of locally-raised corn and soybeans. And no antibiotics or growth hormones are found in these pigs. Most of its pork products are sold wholesale, but Vande Rose premium bacon can be found in most Hy-Vees across the region.

Vande Rose Farms has been in operation in Iowa Falls for six years and is a privately-held company.