We have been sourcing our pork from Plantation Pigs since Christmas and I thought it’s about time you knew more about them.
We have been thrilled with the quality of the pork – it is full of flavour, but tender and succulent as well – which is all you need from your pork. However, it amazes me how often you can eat pork that is dry and tasteless and this is mostly from the fast-growing commercial breeds that come from the supermarkets.
The pigs are reared on the South Downs by a family run farm that has been going since the 1980’s. The pigs are rare-breed Hampshire/Duroc crosses that not only provide excellent quality pork, but are also adaptable to the variable English climate. They are slow growing and thrive in their outdoors environment.
They are born outside in insulated huts and live in the fields for their entire life. In summer they bathe in mud wallows to protect themselves from the sun. In winter they have deep beds of clean straw to bury themselves in to keep warm. Plenty of fresh air and exercise helps to keep the pigs healthy and so there is no need for routine anti-biotics.
You can buy any cut of pork as we take the whole animal, and we also use Plantation Pigs in our sausages, sausage rolls and we cure it to make our own bacon and ham.