Berkshire breed prized for richness of flavor

LEE -- A 500-pound Berkshire boar snorts and roots in the cold mud on Leahey Farm here, oblivious of his contribution to the nation's gourmet food scene. The boar recently sired a litter of eight piglets, who now suckle from their mother in a nearby barn. When those piggies go to market in about eight months, they'll fetch two or three times more than Yorkshire, Hampshire, and Duroc pigs, common commercial breeds.

"In breeding circles, Berkshire pork is known as 'Berkshire gold,' " explains farmer Phil Leahey, crushing a pumpkin with his foot and tossing it into the pen for the black boar to devour. "The breeders realize it's an exceptional product, and it fits the niche market for quality pork." Prized for its richness and depth of flavor, Berkshire pork is widely considered to be the Kobe beef of the pork world. A study conducted by the National Pork Producers Council in September concluded that Berkshire pigs top all other breeds in such categories as meat marbling, moisture, and tenderness.

Also called Kurobuta -- as it's known in Japan, the world's largest importer and consumer of the breed -- Berkshire pork was all but absent from US menus last year. Today, American restaurants and gourmet markets buy roughly 62,500 pounds of this expensive meat each week. "They'd take much more if we had it," says Peter Hoffman, president of the American Berkshire Association in West Lafayette, Ind. "We just can't keep up with the demand."

John Dewar & Co. in Newton and Wellesley sells a bone-in Kurobuta loin for $19.99 a pound, and despite the hefty price tag, Wellesley manager Mara Bohn says sales are ever-increasing.

Berkshire hogs are a heritage breed, the livestock equivalent of heirloom tomatoes. Named for the region in England where they were discovered by Oliver Cromwell's army more than 300 years ago, Berkshires have been raised in this country -- mostly in the Midwest -- for 150 years. Though genetically blessed, Berkshire pork is as much a product of nurture as nature. While industrial pigs generally subsist on simple corn and soybean feed, Berkshire hogs often dine on feed supplemented with oats, molasses, fresh vegetables, and fruits.

Dominic Palumbo, owner of Moon in the Pond farm in Sheffield, recalls how his brother-in-law, an amateur breeder, realized the crucial link between a pig's diet and the flavor of its pork. One year, he fed his pigs scraps from a local school cafeteria, which fattened them and produced satisfactory pork. The next season's pig litter ate scraps from a Chinese restaurant. "That pork tasted greasy," says Palumbo. The following year, the pigs got Dunkin' Donuts scraps. "The pork from those pigs was absolutely inedible," he says. "They ended up throwing it out."

Sean Stanton of North Plain Farm in Great Barrington gives his Berkshire hogs field peas, barley, wheat, corn, and soybeans, plus vegetable scraps from an organic market. He sells some pork to renowned chef Dan Barber, who uses the meat at his Pocantico Hills, N.Y., restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns. "From a taste perspective, there's nothing better than Berkshire pork," Barber says. "It has terrifically marbled meat, and it tastes sweet and clean. I see its popularity exploding."

Barber also raises his own Berkshire hogs, slaughtering about two a week for the restaurant, which lets him keep the pricey pork as a menu item. He understands how some chefs may find Berkshire pork cost-prohibitive.

"The answer is to make less of a profit on that dish and treat it as advertising dollars," Barber says. "You don't want to support the conventional approach to raising hogs. But Berkshire pork is a dish you want to invest in."