Why We Choose Bell & Evans Chicken
Most of our customers know that we’re pretty intentional about where our meat comes from.
At Old Station Craft Meats, we look local first. We’re in Iowa, surrounded by great farmers and some of the best agriculture anywhere. But local isn’t the only thing we look for. Quality matters too. And sometimes finding a product that meets our standards means looking a little farther from home.
That’s exactly what happened with our chicken.
We source our chicken from Bell & Evans, a family-owned chicken company in Pennsylvania. Bell & Evans emphasizes humane treatment throughout its operation, raises its chickens without antibiotics, and feeds its birds 100% U.S.-grown grains.
So why Pennsylvania?
It’s certainly not because Iowa farmers can’t raise great chickens. They absolutely can. For us, one of the big differences comes after the birds are raised.
The Big Difference: Air Chilling
After poultry is processed, it has to be cooled. And this is where Bell & Evans does something that really caught our attention.
Bell & Evans uses 100% air chilling rather than conventional water chilling. Their process means no chlorinated-water chilling, no water absorption, and no dilution of flavor. Conventionally chilled chicken can contain up to 12% retained chlorinated water.
Think about that for a second.
With water-chilled chicken, some of the weight you’re paying for can be water absorbed during processing. That water can eventually work its way back out of the chicken and into the absorbent pad commonly found underneath supermarket chicken.
Bell & Evans takes a different approach. Its fresh chicken doesn't require an absorbent diaper or pad because its air-chilled chicken has no retained water.
We don’t know about you, but we don’t want my meat coming in a diaper.
Yuck!
But Here’s What Really Matters: It Tastes Good
All of those details matter to us. How an animal is raised matters. How it’s processed matters. What goes into the package matters.
But at the end of the day, you still have to put it on the dinner table.
And honestly, we just think Bell & Evans chicken tastes fantastic.
It’s consistently tender and flavorful, and that eating experience is ultimately why we put it in our case. Bell & Evans describes its own air-chilled chicken as tender and flavorful, but you don’t have to take their word for it. That’s a judgment you can make for yourself.
In fact, when you’re eating Bell & Evans chicken, you don’t need to bring a knife to the fight. There isn’t going to be much of a fight. A fork will do just fine.
Local First. Quality Always.
That really gets to the heart of how we source at Old Station.
We’ll always look close to home first. We want to support great producers in Iowa whenever we can. But we also think you trust us to be selective about what goes into our meat case.
Sometimes that search leads us down the road.
For chicken, it led us to Pennsylvania.
Come into Old Station Craft Meats and give Bell & Evans chicken a try. We think you’ll understand why we chose it.
