In the farmyard, a pig becomes a hog when its weight gets to over 50 kilograms. A 'gilt' is an immature sow, and a 'barrow' is a young, castrated male that can never perform as a boar. The meat of this wonderful beast yields some of the world’s best tasting meat and is the source of high quality protein.
Farming the pig could have began when captured wild piglets were domesticated. The next step would have been the long process of evolving the pig into the animal we see today. But the emergence of distinctive breeds, and they are many and varied, dates mainly from the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Religion could have been behind the transformation of the pig from a semi- domesticated type to a state of full dependency on humans. Ancient Egyptians sacrificed pigs to their gods. In ancient Greek and Roman times, pigs were sacrificed to deities. In China it is believed that a sacrificial pig warded off bad spirits and brought good fortune. In all these groups, the live animals which were used for sacrifice could have resulted in breeding more and more pigs thereby increasing their dependency on humans.
The pig is hugely prolific. The gestation period is only 4 months, with a sow giving birth to an average of 10 piglets. A piglet of only 1.5 kilograms will rapidly grow into a porker with a weight of 120 kilograms. Pigs can also be fed with many differing food options. Surplus crops, maize, barley and vegetables can all be fed to the pigs. Christopher Columbus brought the first pigs to the New World in 1493.
Here's a recipe for one of the cheaper cuts of pork:
Pig's Hock
Place a hock in a large saucepan and cover with water.
Add a tablespoon of brown sugar, a large onion, peeled and quartered, 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper, a couple of bay leaves and two whole large potatoes.
Bring to the boil and then cover and reduce the heat to a simmer for about half an hour. Turn the hock over and cover and let it simmer for a further 15 minutes. If the potatoes get cooked through, remove them.
Check to see that the meat is cooked through. Insert a skewer into the meat and leave it for a few seconds before taking it out and testing to see if it's hot to the touch. The meat must be hot in the centre. If you have a meat thermometer all the better.
Serve the meat and onions with the potatoes.
