In recent years, some local farmers in the hazelnut-growing regions of the Pacific Northwest have been experimenting with another type of nut: the hazelnut. These sweet nuts are traditionally used in a variety of desserts, from praline to Nutella, and pigs love them as much as people do. The nuts give a sweet flavor to the meat, and impart many of the same health benefits shared by chestnut and acorn-finished pigs. Pigs fattened with nuts have an unusually high ratio of unsaturated fat to saturated fat, including as high as 55% oleic acid, a heart-healthy fat known to lower levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and raise HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. Nut-fed pork also has higher levels of many important vitamins and minerals, and is more likely to be raised and slaughtered humanely.

One of the pioneers in the hazelnut-fed pork movement is Tails and Trotters, an Oregon company dedicated to creating a quality Northwest prosciutto.

The most famous chestnut-fed pigs are those raised around the town of Parma, in Italy. Parma is famous for two of Europe’s great delicacies: its parmesan (parmigiano) cheese and its wonderful prosciutto. Prosciutto di parma is salt-cured pork made from pigs raised on a combination of whey from Parma’s great cheese factories and chestnuts and grain from the surrounding countryside. Parma prosciutto is widely considered to be the best in the world.

Lardo di Arnad, a lesser known Italian delicacy, is also made from chestnut-fed pigs.

When European settlers came to America, they discovered a vast forest a waiting them. One of the dominant trees of the Eastern woodlands was the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata), which made up as many as one fourth of all trees in some regions of the Eastern United States. Whole industries revolved around the magnificent trees, which produced excellent timber in addition to delicious nuts. The trees were such prolific nut producers that after nuts had been gathered and shipped out for human consumption in towns and cities up and down the Eastern seaboard, there was usually plenty left over for the pigs, and chestnut-fed pork was considered to be the sweetest and best pork by early American colonists. Virginia hams were traditionally raised on a combination of peanuts and chestnuts.

Unfortunately, the great American Chestnut was nearly wiped out by a chestnut blight accidentally imported to New York on some infected Asian chestnuts, and between 1900 and 1950, an estimated 4 billion trees died.

Like the trees that once fed them, however, chestnut-fed pigs are now making a comeback as consumers seek a tastier, healthier, and more humane pork for their tables. Chestnut-fed pork, raised on naturalized European or Asian chestnuts, or Asian-American hybrids, has many of the same health benefits as better-known acorn-finished pork, another European tradition imported to the New World. Though fattier than modern commercial raised hogs, acorn and chestnut fed pigs have extremely high levels of unsaturated fat, including heart healthy oleic acid. The meat also contains higher levels of many important vitamins and minerals.

Chestnut-fed pork is also typically raised under more humane circumstances than modern commercially raised pork, and there is evidence to suggest that managed grazing by pigs can actually improve hardwood stands in woodlots and forests.

In some regions, these ancient, traditional methods of raising pork never disappeared. The legendary jamón ibérico de bellota (Iberian acorn-finished ham), also known as pata negra, is widely considered to be the finest pork in the world. This Spanish ham comes from the black Iberian pig (cerdo negra) and is raised in southern Spain near the border with Portugal in oak forests called la dehesa. During the six month period (la montanera) every fall and winter that they forage in the Dehesa, the pigs eat 15-20 pounds of acorns (bellotas) every day, gaining up to two pounds a day, and enjoy fresh air and exercise. After they are “sacrificed,” the hams are cured for 12-36 months, producing a truly artisan meat.

Jamón Ibérico de bellota has only been available in the United States since 2008 and can be purchased from websites such as Jamon.com for $100 or more per pound.

The Italian Cinta Senese and the Hungarian Mangalitsa are more old-fashioned European breeds traditionally raised on acorns. In the New Forest in southern England, pigs are still turned out for a minimum of 60 days every autumn to eat acorns and beechnuts, in a practice known as “pannage,” or the “Common of Mast.”

The practice of finishing pigs on acorns followed European settlers to North America and is regaining popularity today due to its many benefits:

Acorn Finished Pork and Animal Welfare

Acorn finished meat is humane, allowing the pigs to enjoy fresh air and sunshine, as well as practice natural behaviors such as rooting and nesting. Many acorn-finished pork producers even allow their sows to farrow in the woods. Because the animals are not too crowded and are able to behave naturally, pastured pigs rarely have problems with stress and boredom-related cannibalism and their tails are generally not docked. Most are completely antibiotic and hormone free.

Acorn Finished Pork and the Environment

Because the pigs spend their days wandering in forests and pastures, they spread their manure naturally, completely eliminating the toxic waste problems associated with many commercial-scale pig farms. In fact, instead of causing air and groundwater pollution, manure from pastured pigs actually improves the soil.

Forest-raised pigs have also been found to improve forest habitat in some regions. A North Carolina study found that managed grazing by pigs removed invasive plants and improved hardwood regeneration in woodlots.

Note: due to pigs’ omniovorous nature, pastured pigs are NOT recommended in areas with sensitive populations of endangered wildlife. In particular, feral pigs are blamed for massive environmental damage in the delicate native ecosystems of Hawaii.

Acorn Finished Pork and Agricultural Biodiversity

Most commercial pig production is dominated by only a few breeds and hybrids that are bred to be suited to confinement hog rearing. As a result, many traditional hog breeds have become critically endangered. These traditional breeds have many valuable traits that commercial hogs lack, including hardiness, disease-resistance, mothering skills, and foraging efficiency. Pastured pork production helps preserve these valuable traits and increase agricultural biodiversity and food security.

Nutritional Benefits of Acorn Finished Pork

Finally, acorn-finished pork is tastier and healthier for the consumer. For decades, pork has been marketed as “the other white meat” due to the extreme leanness of factory-farmed pork. Acorn-finished pork, on the other hand, is deep red and well marbled with fat. Depending on the breed, many acorn-finished hogs even develop the famous “fatback” – 3 inches or more of fat from the pig’s back that was once considered a delicacy.

Interestingly, even though acorn-finished hogs are fattier than confinement-raised hogs, their meat is healthier. Studies of Spanish pata negra pork have found that the fat they produce is largely unsaturated, often to the point of being liquid at room temperature, and that it is extremely high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids and oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat that is also known to lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and raise HDL (“good”) cholesterol. In fact, the pigs are sometimes called “olive trees on four hooves” because the health benefits are similar to olive oil!