In the Field

Culling a Wild Boar Population | Listen

A Florida partnership is working to cull the wild boar population with delicious results

Copy of

Chef Toffer Jacob’s work environment is much quieter these days. As a cook with two decades of experience in professional kitchens, he was used to hot, loud nights on the line, in competitive markets from Charleston to Nashville. But now, he is a team of one, working out of a kitchen in Sarasota, Florida. The only sounds are the whirring motor of the walk-in or the music in his earbuds—and an occasional thud when he hoists half of a wild boar carcass onto the prep table.

Jacob is the sole butcher for a wild boar charcuterie program that is a partnership between former Florida restaurateur Ed Chiles and Shogun Farms of Sheffler, Florida, outside of Tampa. It’s one of the most innovative approaches to addressing Florida’s invasive wild boar population, and the results promise to not only reduce the number of boar in the Tampa area but to provide area chefs and home cooks with outstanding charcuterie in the process.

Feral swine are not native to the US. Early explorers (including Hernando de Soto) and settlers brought pigs to the country; some were abandoned and some escaped, creating the first roaming herds. Then, in the last century, more hogs were introduced for sport hunting.

Florida ranks in the top five states wrangling with wild boar—the University of Florida estimates a population of well more than half a million. These mammals wreak havoc on the environment, running in small groups, rooting up soil, trampling vegetation, and eating everything from farm crops to shrubbery to sea turtle eggs. They’ve even rammed cars in parking lots if they feel threatened.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission allows hunting and trapping across the state and runs its own culling programs to try to manage the animals. The combination of destruction and hunting is what spurred Shogun owners David and Pamela Fay to come up with their own plan.

“I believe that a true hunter is a conservationist as well,” David says. “I’ve seen too many wild boars killed and left ‘in the field.’” Shogun originally operated as a cattle farm (they still raise some), but they now run a finishing operation for wild boar, which he says is essentially “farming the sustainability of the habitat.”

Instead of shooting the boar, Shogun is working to develop a clean, delicious source of meat. First, the Fays (or other paid hunters) humanely trap the boar, then relocate the wild animal to the farm. Once arrived, each animal is inspected by a full-time staff vet, and then they are placed in quarantine pens and separated by size. After at least 30 days, the feral swine are slowly introduced to the larger herd and fed refuse vegetables from nearby Plant City, which, depending on the season, can be kale, eggplant, pumpkin, and corn, supplemented by a local dairy’s refuse milk multiple times a week.

The animals are allowed to breed and live out their lives on dirt (never concrete like many factory pig farms), and they bulk up from an average of 75 pounds at intake to 150 to 200 pounds, which is the sweet spot for processing. The key is time and respecting the animal at every stage of the process, David says, which reduces stress chemicals, thus making for a sweeter meat when the animal is eventually processed. (Shogun is in the final construction phase of a USDA processing facility in Tampa that will create the ability to process close to 30 head a day—that will drastically increase capacity and impact the wild population in the long term.)

Copy of

Once the boar is processed, that’s where Jacob comes in. He makes guanciale with the jowls and spicy coppa from the muscle with ancho chiles, chipotle, and hot paprika; he even renders down the lard to sell to bakers. And then there are the sausages: six-mushroom sausage with cotija cheese, and a blueberry, maple syrup, and lion’s mane variety that’s become a signature. 

“The fat of these animals is what makes them so amazing to work with,” Jacob says. “The meat is lean, with a nice, rich flavor, and every carcass is different.”

“I grew up hunting pigs, and hunting and fishing with my dad,” says Chiles. His Gamble Creek Farms is part of the chain as well, since the boars’ spent bones end up at his facility as “biochar,” which is organic waste material used to bolster soil. “He taught us very well to respect the animal. You didn’t waste product; you revered it.”

Clearly respect is at the heart of this project, from the Fays’ care of the boars to Jacob’s use of the whole animal.

“This project is a powerful statement of what a small group of people can do, and that’s what excites me,” Chiles says. “Florida can be a model for how we can do a better job.” And enjoy some blueberry maple mushroom sausage along the way.

Where to Find Wild Boar Charcuterie

Ed Chiles and Toffer Jacob are planning to open a market in the near future that will sell a variety of goods—including the charcuterie—so for now, their wild boar products are available at the market at Gamble Creek Farms in Parrish, Florida (gamblecreekfarms.com). For a variety of wild boar cuts, order directly from Shogun.

Recipes

Wild Boar Ribs

Chef Tim Love, from The Lonesome Dove in Fort Worth, Texas, cooks up wild boar BBQ ribs that uses classic Western ingredients in his cooking, and they shine through in this delicious recipe.

In the Field

10 Southern Innovators Changing the Game

These 10 innovators are taking action to tackle big food-focused issues around the Southeast and working hard to change the game.

In the Field

Filipino Food in Jacksonville: Purple Roots

TLP meets Purple Roots owner, Francis “Kiko” Cruz, who fuses Spanish and Filipino food into a communal cuisine with a kaleidoscope of flavor.

trending content

More From In the Field

Leave a Reply

Be the first to comment.