Our Pork

At Cheshire Pork® we remind our customers that we are not just a breed. We have the advantage of more than 45 years of selective breeding by choosing only the top 3% of our heritage breeds, which is what gives our pork superior flavor, consistency in texture, and marbling.

Why Cheshire Pork Every Time

  • Heritage Breed Genetics with over 45 years of breeding and choosing only the top 3% performers

  • Superior marbling (intramuscular fat = flavor)

  • High in oleic acid (monounsaturated fat), which lowers “bad” cholesterol and increases “good” cholesterol

  • Has a velvety, irresistible “mouthfeel”

  • We are the only marketed pork brand that includes Chester White genetics

  • Higher pH level (ensures moisture retention when cooking)

  • Consistency

  • Single source genetics, total feed control

  • Genetics provided by Ivey Spring Creek Farms

  • Our Cheshire White breed is virtually free of the stress gene = better flavor

  • High Minolta scores (measured for red coloring in raw pork)

  • We are the Official House Purveyor for the James Beard Foundation

 
 

ABOUT THE HOGS

For the past 40 years, the Ivey family has been raising heritage breed hogs on the family farm in Seven Springs, North Carolina. They have selectively bred a herd of Chester White hogs that is widely known for its intramuscular fat and the superior taste that this fat imparts. Careful farming practices and close monitoring of the herd’s genetics have produced what we believe to be the juiciest and most flavorful pork in the market. This pork is richly colored, well marbled, and always juicy. The pork gets high Minolta scores, a measurement of the red color of the pork, and for having a pH that is more neutral, which insures moisture retention during cooking.

The hogs are raised indoors in an environment that respects their natural instincts, with room to move and congregate. Since they cannot sweat, the hogs are raised in climate-controlled barns with misters and fans. Living indoors allows the pigs to live in a cleaner and more controlled environment that is as disease-free as possible. It also ensures consistency in the flavor of the pork, as the diet can be regulated. Hogs take on flavors of the things in their diet, so all the hogs are hand-fed the same diet, one free of hormones, steroids, and animal by-products. These heritage breed piglets are raised from birth, ensuring full traceability. There are now two nucleus herds with the same genetics, one in North Carolina and one in Indiana.

For decades, the pork has been an export only product, and the Japanese enjoyed it all the way through the “Lean Generation” when Americans were turning pork into the other white meat. The farmer’s daughter, who started Cheshire Pork, brought it to the American market six years ago and it is now distributed from New York to Miami and most recently to points west.

Cheshire Pork offers a wide range of raw products and an ever-growing list of further processed items. We have partnered with great producers to add bacon, charcuterie, fresh and smoked sausages, and a delicious natural casing hot dog to the line-up. Many of these items are offered for foodservice applications and are also packed and labeled for retail sale.

Chefs will find our pork to be very consistent in size and quality and will appreciate the way it performs. Even the quality of the fat component of this pork is special. High in oleic acid, it imparts a distinctive texture and mouth-feel that discriminating palates appreciate. Cheshire Pork is processed with no injected flavoring solutions, fillers, or preservatives. It is just great tasting 100% pork, the way pork used to be.

We invite you to experience the difference.