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porc noir de Bigorre

very special pigs

Gilts from Porc Gascon breed photographied in Arberet farm, Bonnemazon village, in Baronnies (Hautes-Pyrenees), near Escaladieu Abbey and Mauvezin Castle (seen on the photography)

France’s oldest indigenous pig breed, the AOP Porc Noir de Bigorre or Parc Gascon, with their black coats and horizontal ears, live free range in the Pyrenean foothills, eating grass, acorns, chestnuts, and triticale (a wheat and rye hybrid).

Marbled with fat, they are the source of some of France’s finest pork and hams, and always command a premium price.

AOPs and some others

Meat

Occitanie

Text © Dana Facaros

Image by Roland Darré