Three wooly Mangalitza pigs arrived in the Tropical Wings zoo in South Woodham Ferrers, a parish in Essex, England, just before Easter as part of a program to save the breed. But there’s another effort on to preserve these pigs from a bygone era. And that plan is all about eating them.
The wooly pigs – and their meat – have a certain cachet among the well-to-do. The New York Daily News reports that cured meat from what it refers to as a “wooly sheep pig” brings nearly US$83 a pound. That’s a mighty expensive ham, but the owner of a food store called Greene Grape’s Provisions in Manhatten reports that most shoppers buy a quarter pound at a time.