Modern Forage: Lebanon, PA
Lebanon County's namesake bologna is a semi-dry, fermented, heavily smoked all-beef sausage with nothing in common with standard grocery-store bologna. Seltzer's of Palmyra (since 1902) is the most famous producer; the town drops a 120-pound bologna from a crane every New Year's Eve.
Lebanon County’s bologna is its own thing: a semi-dry, fermented, heavily smoked all-beef sausage aged in barrels and smoked over wood chips. Seltzer’s of Palmyra (since 1902) and Weaver’s both have local-loyalist followings. The town drops a 120-pound bologna from a crane every New Year’s Eve.
This list is almost certainly incomplete; Lebanon and the surrounding PA Dutch corridor hold further hyper-local dishes that have not yet surfaced in the survey.
A note on the Where-to-eat blocks. Every entry below carries a list of restaurants and, where available, star ratings as of the date this post was published. These are a snapshot. Verify hours and addresses before driving anywhere.
Lebanon Bologna — Lebanon County, PA
A semi-dry, fermented, heavily smoked all-beef sausage with a tangy, pungent flavor nothing like standard grocery-store bologna. Aged in barrels, mixed with spices, and smoked over wood chips. Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna (Palmyra, since 1902) is the most famous producer. The town of Lebanon celebrates New Year’s Eve by dropping a 120-pound bologna from a crane. “Loyalists debate which producer (Seltzer’s or Weaver’s) makes the best version.” Available across southeastern PA but essentially unknown outside the mid-Atlantic.
Sources: The Takeout (2025); Experience Pennsylvania (2026); La Vida Nomad (2025); Amish Heritage (2024). Five+ sources.
Where to eat: Seltzer’s Lebanon Bologna, Palmyra, PA (since 1902; ships nationally). Weaver’s Lebanon Bologna, Lebanon, PA. Most southeastern PA grocery stores carry both brands. The annual New Year’s Eve Bologna Drop is the local public ritual.
More from the series
Browse the rest of the Modern Forage survey.
Research & primary sources
Methodology, validation logs, and the entries that didn’t make this post are in the modern_forage/ on GitHub. Every entry here passed a 2+ independent-source check; the citations under each dish list them.