GEORELS – Written by Anne Ladouceur

A new addition to our Port Moody Winter Market, GEORELS offers us hand crafted artisan bacon that they spend 10 ten days preparing as well as grass fed bone broth (beef and organic chicken).

GEORELS is the brainchild of a professional chef (Juli Rogerson) and a construction worker (Matt Thomas) who had long enjoyed smoking meats. Their mutual love of preparing food inspired them to turn what they enjoyed into an independent business – that and the fact that Matt was fed up with working in the cold and wet of constructions sites. Brought together by their love of food, Juli and Matt also found love together and it’s as a couple that they officially launched their business in October 2015.

Matt and Juli buy their meat from Johnson’s Farm in Chilliwack and their pigs from local Fraser Valley farmers who do not use growth hormone. Commercially produced stock is cooked at high temperature for 6-8 hours to turn out a product that is more about flavour than nutrients. GEORELS bone broth is produced from ethically raised high quality grass fed beef cooked at a very low simmer for 40-48 hours with less water so that the end product has a nice thick gelatinous texture.

GEORELS’ other main product is maple smoked bacon that is prepared in their commissary kitchen in Vancouver by smoking the meat over maple flavoured bisquettes. The bacon is what makes the macaroni and cheese they also offer something special. At the moment, they also have a delicious (I’ve tried it) smoked salmon pâté. And for next year, Juli and Matt are thinking of offering some additional bacon flavours such as, maybe, jalapeño.

If you’ve never tasted real artisan bacon, you’re definitely in for a treat thanks to Juli and Matt and their young company, GEORELS (www.georels.com).