What Is the Bama Fragrant Pig? An Introduction to Market Prices
People today have ever higher demands when it comes to food, and many things that in ancient times only kings and nobles could eat have gradually found their way onto ordinary people's tables. What we are going to talk about, however, is something still rarely seen by ordinary people - the “nobility among pigs”——the Bama fragrant pig. What is the Bama fragrant pig? And what about its price?
1. What Is the Bama Fragrant Pig
The Bama fragrant pig, also known as the “winter melon pig”, “plantain pig” or “two-ended black”, is a specialty of Bama Yao Autonomous County in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. According to local legend, the Bama fragrant pig was domesticated from local wild boars. In farming, it is not fed any commercial feed; its diet consists mainly of corn and sweet potato leaves, it drinks spring water from mountain streams, and the wild fruits, green grass and wild vegetables in the woods are all natural supplements and snacks for the Bama fragrant pig.
It is said that the Bama fragrant pig has thin skin and fine meat, bright red flesh, snowy white fat, and finer muscle fibers, and its texture is more tender than ordinary pork. The origin of the name “fragrant pig” is that when people from elsewhere eat this pig, they find it remarkably fragrant even without adding any seasoning, and since it has no other off-odor, it came to be called the “fragrant pig”.
The Bama fragrant pig has a delicate appearance, and is short, small, stubby and round. It is mainly characterized by being black at both ends and white in the middle; some individuals have slightly black patches on the back and waist, and a white line or an inverted-triangle white patch on the forehead, commonly known as “two-ended black”. Compared with other pigs, the Bama fragrant pig has many fine qualities, such as high contents of protein, amino acids, calcium and phosphorus, and low fat content and calories. The protein, calories, glutamic acid, cholesterol and other nutrients contained in Bama fragrant pig meat are also generally superior to those of ordinary domestic pigs.
2. The Price of the Bama Fragrant Pig
Nowadays the fragrant pig is not only a rising star of the breeding industry, but has also made a dazzling appearance in the pet world. Fragrant pig farming is currently becoming more and more popular, and many people want to buy breeding pigs to start raising them. According to market insiders, the price of breeding pigs depends on the grade; breeding Bama fragrant pigs raised in Bama County, Guangxi, come at various prices from 600 to 800 yuan.
Today's Bama fragrant pigs are raised in two ways, free-range and confined. The price of fragrant pigs under different raising methods differs. It is impossible to raise free-range, original-ecology Bama fragrant pigs in large numbers, so their price is much higher than that of confined pigs. The original-ecology, grass-eating free-range Bama fragrant pig is the finest of fragrant pigs, priced at around 40 yuan——50 yuan/jin. The price of confined fragrant pigs is generally around 35 yuan/jin. Exactly how much a Bama fragrant pig costs per jin still depends on the pig's size and type.
Bama fragrant pigs have now also begun to be farmed on a large scale in China, but the most authentic pork is still found in Bama Yao Autonomous County in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. After being introduced and farmed in the north, the taste still differs considerably from that of authentic fragrant pigs, so when buying fragrant pork rice, you still need to keep your eyes open.
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