Acorn Finished Pork, a Pannage
Autumn has arrived, bringing with it an abundance of acorns on our farm, which is home to a variety of White and Live Oak trees. As the acorns fall, we collect them by hand, or with the assistance of a nut gatherer, or sometimes we pay local children to collect them in five-gallon buckets. The reason for our obsession with acorns is simple: acorn-fed pork.
The world-famous Iberico ham, renowned as possibly the highest quality ham in the world, hails from Portugal and Spain, and is famous for the pigs' near-exclusive diet of acorns. An acorn diet leads to well-marbled, deep red meat, in stark contrast to the commonly used marketing phrase "the other white meat."
Our acorn-fed pigs are often raised in pastures on organic, mixed grasses and forbes, creating ruby-red meat rich in Vitamins. When fall approaches, they are moved into the farm’s woodland under the oak trees where they forage for their own food, a practice known as pannage. Additionally, these pigs may be supplemented with extra acorns collected from around the property. Allowing pigs to express their natural behavior in the form of foraging, rooting, sunbathing, and running leads to much healthier meat than that of pigs confined to a concrete stall, and the finishing diet of woodland roots and acorns (and some chestnuts) is converted into unparalleled taste and nutrient-density at the table.
A diet rich in acorns results in pig fat that is high in unsaturated fat, omega-3 fatty acids, and oleic acid. The nutritional profile of this pork fat is very similar to that of olive oil, and the Spanish often refer to acorn-fed pork as "olive oil on hooves." Despite being villainized for so long, pork fat, or lard, falls into the health food group, but ONLY when pigs are raised in a natural outdoor environment, such as pasture and forest. Acorns are also sustainable and free, requiring only time and effort to collect. Additionally, acorns are low in sugar, high in minerals, vitamins, and fiber, and depending on the oak tree variety, may contain high levels of tannins, which do not affect the flavor of the pork.
For those seeking acorn-fed pork, it is hard to come by. Here at Ridgmeade, we pride ourselves in being one of the few farms that truly finish our pork in native woodland, on acorns.
