Meats and cured meats

Nero Pugliese pig

Nero Pugliese pig: a black woodland breed, raised slowly for cured meats

Medium-small, black-bristled and maned along the back, the Nero Pugliese is a native breed that forages the woods of Capitanata, the Murgia and the Itria Valley for acorns, chestnuts and roots. Nearly lost in the twentieth century, it has been protected as an endangered breed since 2001, and small semi-free-range farms in the Slow Food Presidium are bringing it back.

• Slow growth and an outdoor life give succulent meat with a rich, rounded flavour
• Just enough intramuscular fat to make the meat unusually soft
• Pigs for cured meats are kept to 18-24 months or more, heavier and fully grown

How to enjoy it. Its meat becomes capocollo, salami, sausages, lardo and ham, made in the cold months of autumn and winter. Thanks to curing, those salumi can be enjoyed in every season.

Production areas

Apulia

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