What is Mangalitsa?
Mangalitsa is a breed of pig developed during the Austro-Hungarian Empire for its exquisite flavor for the Hapsburg royal family. They were the only people allowed to eat Mangalitsa at the time.
These Mangalitsas from 1924 are 73-79% fat by weight. Basically raised for lard, there is very little waste here - the meat, bones and organs were used in cooking and in the home.
Mangalitsa (US), Mangalitza (UK) and Mangalica (Hungarian and Spanish spelling) are descendants of wild boars and lard pigs and genetically related to the black-footed Iberian pigs of Spain.
They have long, often curly, hair that ranges from black and blonde to all red or blonde. Originally bred for their delicious and clean-tasting lard their meat is dark, deeply flavorful, marbled with fat and more akin to a fine-cut of beef than “the other white meat”.
The breed would have died out during the Soviet era were it not for the preservation efforts of farmers in Eastern Europe who revived the breed from a surviving 200 pure bred animals to today’s 60,000.
History
There are three Mangalitsa breeds: Blonde, Swallow-bellied and Red.
They all have the same behavior; the only difference is their colour.
The Blonde Mangalitsa is blonde, the Swallow-bellied (originally produced by crossing the Blonde Mangalitsa with the extinct Black Mangalitsa) has a blonde belly and feet with a black body, and the red (produced by crossing the Blonde Mangalitsa with the Szalonta breed) is ginger colored. Other breeds (black, wolf, and baris) have died out as pure-bred forms, though their reconstruction from selective breeding of mixed varieties is being debated in Hungary.
In the early 20th century the new, quick-growing “fat-type” hog did not require any special care, so it became very popular in Hungary. In 1927 the National Society of Fat-Type Hog Breeders (Mangalicatenyésztők Országos Egyesülete) was established, with the objective of improving the breed. Mangalitsa was the most prominent swine breed in the region until 1950 (there were 30,000 of them in Hungary in 1943). Since then the popularity as well as the population of Mangalitsa have been decreasing, with the rising availability of food from further away and refrigeration. Nowadays, the keeping of Mangalicas has become a popular hobby. There are currently over 7000 Mangalitsa sows in Hungary, producing cca. 60000 porkers a year.
In March 2006, 17 Mangalitza were imported from Austria into the UK. These are registered with the British Pig Association (BPA) and the pedigrees are being maintained on the BPA Mangalitza Herd Book.
Three of the animals are at Tropical Wings zoo in Essex.
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