Smoked Pepper Bacon — Cracked Pepper, Sweet Cure, Heritage Berkshire Pork
At Valor Provisions, we partner with American producers who do things the right way. Paradise Meats in Trimble, Missouri is exactly that: a family-run, USDA-inspected shop where the Fantasma family has been curing and smoking meat since 1995 — in a Missouri locker that's been feeding its community since 1946. This is their Smoked Pepper Bacon: sugar-cured Berkshire pork, rubbed with black pepper, and slow smoked in-house.
What Makes This Bacon Different
Most bacon starts with commodity pork. This one starts with Berkshire hogs from local, small family farms — a heritage breed prized by chefs for deeper marbling, richer flavor, and superior moisture. Paradise's farmers never use antibiotics, and every slab is cured, rubbed, and smoked at the family's own plant just north of Kansas City, using the same cure they've trusted since 1995. The cracked black pepper bites first; the sweet sugar cure rounds it out. It's the bacon steakhouse cooks reach for.
Why You'll Love It
Heritage Berkshire Pork – Sourced from local Missouri family farms, raised without antibiotics.
Cracked Black Pepper Rub – Bold, peppery crust over a balanced sweet-and-savory cure.
Slow Smoked In-House – Cured and smoked at Paradise's USDA-inspected plant in Trimble, MO.
Medium Sliced – Versatile thickness that crisps in the skillet without turning brittle — right for breakfast, burgers, and wraps alike.
How to Use It
Lay strips on a rack and bake at 350°F — about 20 minutes for chewy, 30 for shatter-crisp. Pepper bacon is the move for BLTs and club sandwiches, candied bacon (the pepper keeps brown sugar honest), carbonara, or wrapped around scallops and jalapeño poppers. Always cook bacon thoroughly before serving.
Ingredients
Pork, cured with water, salt, coated with black pepper, and less than 2% of the following: cane sugar, maple sugar and brown sugar, spice extractives, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite.
The Paradise Meats Story
The Fantasma family bought the Paradise meat locker in 1995 and rebuilt it from the ashes of a 2002 fire into one of the most respected small processors in America — 50+ employees handling 300–350 local animals a week, with over 100 awards earned along the way. When you buy Paradise, you're keeping a Missouri family business and the local farms behind it in business. That's the Valor mission on a plate.
