Boar Taint - it's a thing!

A friend of mine sent me this! (she lives in a different province so can’t buy our pork)

YES, this is what we call Boar Taint (Boars are in uncastrated males)

It absolutely is a thing but not everyone can smell it. Women are more likely to smell it than men.

What is boar Taint

It is an unpleasant odour and taste found in meat from some (not all) entire male pigs.

Male pigs produce andosterone, a male sex hormone, and skatole, a digestive by-product formed in the intestines.

The production of andosterone and skatole is responsible for boar taint,

Once you have experienced boar taint you likely won't eat pork for a long time.

Carl and I used to work in a processing plant and we occasionally got boars in. I don't know if the rules are the same but at that time any boar or ridgeling (a male with 1 undescended testicle) over 90kg (198lb) had to go for processing into pepperoni. (This doesn’t mean all pepperoni is boar meat)

The spices used apparently mask the smell but I swear I can detect it in some brands. 

The meat inspectors in the plant we worked in used to heat up a small piece of fat from any boars that came in - if it had boar taint it went with the 90kg boars.

Size is irrelevant! We once had an 80lb boar with taint - which we fed to the dogs.

We castrate all our meat pigs BUT not all farmers do - because some don't think boar taint is a thing!

Did you know that some gilts can also have taint? It's a very small percentage but it can happen.

What can you do if you get that taint?

Though you are not supposed to be able to taste it once you have that smell in your nose it is hard to stomach the thought of eating the meat. 

The only advice I could give my friend was to get her husband to cook it outside on the bbq it or smoke it - he is lucky and can't smell it.

 

Let me know if you experienced boar taint and what did you do?