So very helpful - thank you for taking time to post this.
Q: My friend Lynnae Beth Oxley (Sugars BBQ team) tells me that when I read that bacon, for instance, is "Uncured" it generally means not cured with added nitrates/nitrites, something like these mixtures. BUT it is still cured because they use ingredients like sea salt and celery which contain natural nitrates. Any thoughts on this opinion and if it's pretty much accurate - do you have any experience with these techniques? 
I don't use the celery juice or powder.
Celery Juice Powder contains naturally occurring nitrites and nitrates (which breakdown to nitrites with the help of bacteria native in meat itself). Celery Juice Powder is now commonly being used for giving sausages and meats a cured appearance and taste without the use of synthetic sodium nitrite/nitrate. Since nitrates take time to convert ('reduce') to nitrite and there is no consensus yet for a suggested curing time per amount Powder for consistent curing action. Products using vegetable based nitrites/nitrates (such as Celery Juice Powder) must be cooked prior to consumption.
Bacon is one of the greatest foods on the planet, but the food marketers are going to figure out a way to make you buy their bacon. So what they do is use celery powder and celery juice (note the asterisk on the label above) as their nitrate source (celery is loaded with nitrate) and are therefore are allowed to say no nitrites added. Why go to the trouble? Because we don’t know any better. Can we really be this stupid? I have only one word to say on this beyond an emphatic yes.
The thing that irks me is the “no added nitrites or nitrates” as if the fact that they’re adding celery powder means nothing. Or “uncured” even though they are obviously “curing” with celery powder. It is false, misleading, and playing off of people’s food fears to market their cured product that is loaded with nitrates.
