*Tamworth (a heritage breed) 

1. Better Tasting Pork. Sunshine, Grass & Low Stress – The Recipe for Perfect Pork. Say goodbye to flavorless, dry and anemic looking pork. Pasture raised pork is richer tasting. Each breed tastes different, and the flavor differs depending on what the pigs have eaten. Once you try it, you’ll never want to eat CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) pork again. Pastured pork does cook faster than conventionally raised pork, so searing the outside of cuts like chops, then transferring to the oven to finish is your best bet. Low and slow techniques like braising are also great with pastured pork.

2. More Nutritious Pork. Pigs raised on pasture have 300 percent more vitamin E and 74 percent more selenium (a vital antioxidant) in their milk than pigs raised in confinement, according to Don C. Mahan Professor of Animal Sciences at Ohio State University. This bounty of nutrients promotes healthier litters, shorter farrowing times, and good milk let down. Pastured pigs raised outdoors can also have more Vitamin D (read all about Vitamin D here, from the brilliant Chris Masterjohn) in the lard.  Loren Cordain cites three studies on his website for the following quote:  “Because pigs are monogastric animals (single stomach), they have the ability to convert vegetable and plant 18 carbon fatty acids (ALA) to the 20 and 22 carbon fatty acids (EPA and DHA) which reduce inflammation, reduce cardiovascular disease and promote good health for us all when we eat pork. Free ranging pork contains higher concentrations of these beneficial fatty acids than are found in their feed lot produced counterparts.” Additionally, there are no unnecessary antibiotics or growth stimulators given to organic, pasture-raised pork.