The Gloucestershire Old Spot had a strong rooting section but had to settle for the place spot. The Red Wattle was a close third, and the Tamworth nosed into fourth place.
But at the end of tasting at the Jan. 26 Pig Pageant at Sandy Lerner’s Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, the winner was the American Mulefoot. Arie McFarlane brought the Mulefoot Boston Butt – the cut is really from the shoulders – from her Maveric Heritage Ranch in South Dakota. She also contributed samples of her Guinea Hog, which attracted an enthusiastic following (she voted for it).
The occasion was a blind taste-test of eight varieties of pig that are sinking into extinction as a few varieties that can be commercially raised have taken over the market.
Unless someone saves their genetics, and the best way to do that is to get lots of people interested in eating them, they will be gone forever, Lerner has said. Ayrshire Farm’s fields are home to White Park and Highland cattle, Shire horses, rare turkeys and the Old Spot and Tamworth hogs. This year, a class of Old Spot-Tamworth hybrids is growing up back in the woods.
The Pig Pageant followed previous forays into blind taste-tests of heritage beef, lamb and turkey. Chicken is on the menu for next summer. The gatherings attract fellow fans and farmers of the endangered livestock species, restaurant owners, chefs, food writers, slow food and local food advocates and caterers. They tasted the varieties of pork, all cooked the same way (no salt, no seasoning), identified only by number, and voted for their favorite.
Goodstone Inn chef Tarver King admitted to favoring the Tamworth, but that might be because he serves it frequently, he said. He chatted with McFarlane about getting some of her meats into his kitchen.
McFarlane started her ranch (motto: Saving endangered pigs by putting them on the table) 10 years ago because “they fit with my husbandry methods.” Her pigs live outdoors, they bear their own young, they are raised with no drugs, no chemicals.
She liked the Mulefoot’s hardiness and its high resistance to parasites. And, she said, they’re black. No problems with sunburn. She guarantees that her animals recieve no antibiotics, no growth stimulants, animal waste or by-products.
When she got started, fewer than 70 of the Mulefoots were known to exist. Today, there are about 300, most of them on her ranch. She recently got a Value Added Production grant from the USDA to start producing for the market. Also on the ranch are the American Guinea Hog, the Red Wattle Hog (may be a Texan survivor with French forebears), the Ossabaw Island Hog, and the Wessex. According to McFarlane, fewer than 10 individuals of this old English breed survive in the U.S., 38 in Australia.
The important lesson from the voting, Lerner said, is that everyone in the room liked a different taste – and that the samples tasted different.
“That’s a no brainer,’ Lerner said. “There’s as much difference as there is in different species of apple. “
The blind tastings at Ayrshire are co-sponsored by:
Learn more about Ayrshire and its predator-friendly farming and humane certified, organic raised heritage beef, turkey, pigs and chickens at www.ayrshirefarm.org .
Loudoun Times-Mirror: Hail to the Pigs
Posted: January 28, 2009 by Certified Humane
The Gloucestershire Old Spot had a strong rooting section but had to settle for the place spot. The Red Wattle was a close third, and the Tamworth nosed into fourth place.
The occasion was a blind taste-test of eight varieties of pig that are sinking into extinction as a few varieties that can be commercially raised have taken over the market.
The Pig Pageant followed previous forays into blind taste-tests of heritage beef, lamb and turkey. Chicken is on the menu for next summer. The gatherings attract fellow fans and farmers of the endangered livestock species, restaurant owners, chefs, food writers, slow food and local food advocates and caterers. They tasted the varieties of pork, all cooked the same way (no salt, no seasoning), identified only by number, and voted for their favorite.
She liked the Mulefoot’s hardiness and its high resistance to parasites. And, she said, they’re black. No problems with sunburn. She guarantees that her animals recieve no antibiotics, no growth stimulants, animal waste or by-products.
“That’s a no brainer,’ Lerner said. “There’s as much difference as there is in different species of apple. “
Learn more about Ayrshire and its predator-friendly farming and humane certified, organic raised heritage beef, turkey, pigs and chickens at www.ayrshirefarm.org .
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