Unlocking the Health Benefits and Flavor of Mangalitsa Fat
Mangalista is a Hungarian heritage breed of hog. It is a rare breed in the United States but gaining more in popularity due to its unique meat and looks.
It is a lard pig with a dense wool coat that allows them to survive harsh winters.
But fat is bad right? Not nessesarily.
Fat has gotten a bad reputation that it’s a health hazard. Our society was encouraged to use alternatives like margarine instead of butter and guided to low fat diet as a way to be healthier. Commercial pork are bred to have less fat and renamed “the other white meat”, thus deemed to be “healthier” than other fatty animals.
But what has happened to our health since? We look back at our grandfathers and great grandfathers times and they ate way more animal fats and butters and no processed foods: they were healthy, intelligent, and full of energy. Compare that to now we have an obesity epidemic, mental health crisis, and unmotivated young people and even children.
So why do we need fat?
First of all: our brain is made up of 60% fat: which needs to be maintained to function at an optimal level. If we as a society adopt a low fat diet with the idea that “we will not be fat if we dont eat fat”, what we are really doing is starving our brain of its energy source. Our brain controls our thinking abilities, cardiovascular system, and metabolism. Studies have shown that low-fat diets could also lead to increased risk of dementia. If our bodies and brains are too starved of energy all we will want to do is sit around doing mindless tasks, decreasing our metabolism, and ultimately making us fat.
Monounsaturated Fat
Mangalitsa pork is rich in monounsaturated fats, the same type of fat found in olive oil and avocados. Monounsaturated fats are considered heart-healthy because they can help reduce bad LDL cholesterol levels while increasing good HDL cholesterol. This makes Mangalitsa pork fat a healthier choice compared to other meats that are higher in saturated fats.
Heart Health: MUFAs have been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by improving cholesterol profiles and reducing inflammation.
Omega 3 fatty Acids
Mangalitsa pigs, when raised on a natural diet of foraged grasses, acorns, and other natural foods, tend to have higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids compared to conventionally raised pigs. Omega-3s are essential polyunsaturated fats that play a crucial role in brain function and reducing inflammation in the body.
Anti-inflammatory Properties: Omega-3s are known for their ability to reduce inflammation, which can lower the risk of chronic diseases such as arthritis and heart disease.
Cognitive Benefits: Omega-3s are also linked to improved cognitive function and may help reduce the risk of cognitive decline and mood disorders.
Vitamin D
One of the unique qualities of Mangalitsa pork fat is that it contains a higher concentration of vitamin D than conventional pork. This is especially true when the pigs are raised in free-range environments where they have access to sunlight.
Bone Health: Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption and bone health. It helps maintain strong bones and reduces the risk of osteoporosis and fractures.
Immune System Support: Vitamin D plays a crucial role in the immune system, helping to prevent infections and inflammation.
Mangalitsa pork, particularly the fat, is also a source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a naturally occurring fatty acid found in the meat and milk of grass-fed animals. CLA is known for its potential health benefits, including:
Fat Loss and Muscle Preservation: Some studies suggest that CLA may help reduce body fat and increase lean muscle mass.
Antioxidant Effects: CLA has antioxidant properties, helping to protect the body from oxidative stress and damage caused by free radicals.
Cancer Prevention: Early research has suggested that CLA may have anti-cancer properties, although more research is needed in this area.
Mangalista fats also contain needed levels of vitamin A (the active form found in animal fats, the inactive form is found in plants like carrots), Vitamin E for heart health and vitamin K for bone health.
Lard is very useful for cooking. It can be used instead of butter, for seasoning pans before cooking, in soaps, and our favorite: Pie!
Conclusion
Mangalitsa pork fat stands out from other types of meat fat for its healthful properties. With its high content of monounsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin D, Mangalitsa fat offers several potential health benefits, particularly for heart health, inflammation, and bone strength. It’s a great example of how fat, when sourced from well-raised, heritage-breed animals, can be part of a nutritious and balanced diet. Whether you’re roasting, grilling, or slow-cooking Mangalitsa pork, its rich, flavorful fat enhances not only the taste but also the nutritional profile of your meals.
Why Mangalista?
The Mangalista is a heritage breed of pig that hails from Hungary. It is known for its thick, Wooley coat making them look like a big teddy bear.
Our mangalista live on our family farm in the Minnesota woods where they are free to run and roam. They love digging up roots, greenery, and grubs from the dirt. They even make nests by digging very large holes in the earth and several will snuggle up at night in these holes. The Minnesota winters don’t bother them a bit, in fact it’s one of their favorite times because they play in the snow and can build even bigger nests, or maybe we should call them igloos?
It is very important to us, as we have six children, that our animals are tame and docile in temperament as this makes daily care and also transferring them new homes much easier. Since it takes 16-18 months to grow a mangalista to maturity its important we have happy pigs.
Our purebred Mangalistas are an intricate part of our farm and a lot of fun to raise. Pigs are a very intelligent animal and they each have their own unique personalities. We plan to continue to breed and expand our lines to be able to pedigree and register our Manglista herd, breeding only the best in look and temperament.
Check out our Pigs in the Woods
We are looking into registering our pigs into MBOAR; the mangalista registry for purebred mangalista. They have some very interesting history on the breed.
While they very much enjoy the roots, grubs, and greenery our herd is also fed a custom mix of GMO free oats, wheat, barley, and field peas. Field peas has been our favorite secret recipe for helping our pigs grow optimally and put on a good amount of meat while still retaining the flavorful fat. During the summer they also enjoy scraps from our garden and table. Several pigs even have their favorite snacks. For example, curley loves banana peels. Shirley and Nellie eat eggshells like chips . All of our pigs love melon rines, pumpkins, raspberry canes, acorns, and pigweed.
Curley and piglets eating Pumpkins
Our goal for our family is: if it’s not good for us, than why would we feed it to our animals? None of our animals have any GMO feed and we aim for organic as much as we can. We have started spreadsheets to track the percentages of different types of feed to be able to customize for our animals not only the best mix of feeds on paper, but we also put into practice and track which feeds help our animals to grow optimal and healthy. It is important to us not only to have healthy happy animals, but to extend those benefits to our family and friends.
The mangalista meat is highly sought after and only served in the finest restaurants as the fat contains high amounts of omega 3 fats (the healthy kind). The meat of the mangalista is unique in its rich, complex flavor due to the marbling of fat throughout; similar kobe beef. Even firm pork haters have loved our juicy, flavorful mangalista. The breed nearly went extinct when the push for commercially bred lean, low fat pork was popular. Recently, as we are learning fat has many health benefits, folks are turning back to the lard pig. Mangalista is still a rare breed in the United States, but gaining in popularity.
if you are curious to learn more about Mangalista fat and lard, click here.
if you want to see our herd, click here
Make Extra money on the Farm| Rabbits
Click the pictures to see our YouTube shorts of a few Income Ideas you can use for rabbits for men and women.
2024 Farm Plans
2023 was our rest year. We let our garden weed over, didn’t raise meat chickens, chicks, or bunnies. We took time for our family.
2024 will be different. We be adding baby 6 to our family in April. We are planning on upgrading our main garden fence, upgrading our chicken coop, doubling our breeding pigs, and breeding more New Zealand Reds.
We also want to start teaching our children more about foraging, fishing, and camping skills.
It will be a busy year, so please stay tuned.
God Bless
Polish
Does your chick look like this?
For more information on this bird and others, check out the Murray McMurray Website. Thanks Murray McMurray!
