Monday, May 20, 2013

"Pot Pigs" - Butcher BB Ranch Is Feeding Marijuana to Pigs

In a quick conversation with BB Ranch butcher William von Schneidau recently, he said to me, “Oh, and, by the way, we are feeding our pigs marijuana now. We’re calling them pot pigs.” At first I didn’t think I heard him right. Then I thought he might be joking. But he wasn’t. The Pike Place Market butcher shop is most definitely adding “weed to the feed,” as Schneidau says in this getting-funky-with-it video about his recent Pot Pig Gig dinner. Seattle got its first taste of marijuana-fed pigs at this event in March, when BB Ranch served a head-to-tail menu of swine fed on stems, leaves, and root bulbs from Top Shelf Organic, a medical marijuana co-op. So it’s not like the pigs were smoking a hookah or grazing on buds. All farms have excess, even the marijuana-growing kind, and with the new legality of the drug, it made sense to him to try and help out by finding a use for those cast-off bits of plant. It sounds like an idea conceived by someone holding a bong in a hazy basement, but hey, sustainability comes in all forms. Mixing the fresh herby greens to the regular pig slop adds fiber to the pigs' diet and reportedly gave the meat a more savory bite. Von Schneidau hopes to do a blind taste test soon to compare pot-fed pork's flavor with the traditional variety. He currently has a pot prosciutto curing at BB Ranch, if you're curious for a taste...more

Grass fed beef just took on a whole new meaning.

Come on over to my place if you want some marijuana meatloaf or a "pot" roast.

Here's their Pot Pig Gig video:



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