Savor the difference

December 1, 2004

We did an informal pork tasting recently. On the plate were slices of both natural and commercially-raised pork cooked the same way. One tester looked at the choices, pointed to the commercial pork, and announced, "I'm not even going to try that piece. You can tell just by looking at it that it's too dry." She was right, and other eaters thought the same. The naturally raised pork was pink and tender with an intensely meaty flavor; the other pork sat on the plates almost untouched. It looked much paler than the natural pork, it was indeed dry, and it tasted like cardboard.

Here are some prices: Commercial pork at Shaw's Supermarket in Dorchester costs about $2.29 a pound on special for a center-cut pork loin chop, $5.99 for a tenderloin. John Dewar & Co. in Newton and Wellesley sells natural pork chops for $4.99, tenderloins for $7.99. Crosby Market in Marblehead sells Prairie Grove pork, which is somewhere between commercial and natural; the tenderloins are $5.99 a pound. At Whole Foods Market on River Street in Cambridge, Niman Ranch pork chops are $5.99 a pound, tenderloins $9.99 a pound. (Some Whole Foods Market locations offer du Breton Farms pork in place of Niman.)

ALISON ARNETT