The first taste of Fruit Pig can be just the start of a long-term relationship between us and our customers. New customers often have a question about our fresh blood black puddings or free-from products. To assist, we've answered the most commonly asked questions below.
We may do, we have more than 100 retailers nationally. Just go to our interactive map and browse and/or just type in your postcode.
Yes, we are wholesale producers. We sell direct to restaurants, butchers, delis and farmshops. We currently have over 100 stockists nationally. Just get in touch stating your business name, where you are and supply a phone number. We'll get in touch and send you our wholesale sheet detailing: ordering, prices, minimum amounts, shelflife, allergens etc....it's that easy.
We're at: HRC ExCel London, 3-5 Mar 2020, Stand F810 also FSDS NEC, 3 Mar-1 Apr 2020, Stand F151
No, we are almost alone in making a black pudding with fresh blood. All the nationally-recognised producers we know of use imported dried blood powder harvested from large factory units. To be fair, these larger producers are producing tonnes of black pudding each week so there's probably not enough fresh pig's blood available. As working slaughtermen, as well as butchers, we have access to fresh blood. We use fresh blood because it is properly harvested and available to us, we make much smaller batches and, it's the way black pudding should be made!
Collecting fresh blood requires lots of permissions, even before you are allowed near the abattoir. Once there, it is a messy, dangerous business. We can think of better things to do at 5am every Monday morning! No matter what some say, it is NOT illegal to collect animal blood for black pudding if the blood is passed 'fit for human consumption' by the Meat Inspector in the abattoir.
Is there a difference between the two styles of black puddings? In our taste tests, dried blood black puddings can't hold a candle to the richness, texture and general 'unctuousness' of a fresh blood black pudding. If you doubt us, simply put ours to the test. That said, there are a few delicious dried blood varieties out there....but only a few!
Regional allegiances aside, if you've tried ours and you still prefer your local blend, brilliant. Black pudding is the new black.....it's all good.
Listen to BBC Radio 4, The Food Programme. Tim Hayward comes to visit Fruit Pig and talks about the use of blood in food.
APC Overnight are a nationally recognised food couriers. With our insulated packaging, ice blocks and a next-day courier charge, the average total delivery cost to us is between £10-£24. We have tried to be fair across the board, the more you buy from us, the cheaper the courier charge. Please read here for more detail.
No. We only have permission to collect and use the fresh blood ourselves in Fruit Pig products. We cannot give or sell this by-product to any customers. We do make bespoke products though, so if there is a specific recipe you are looking for please contact us.
Adding nitrates and nitrites in conjunction with salt are the most common ingredients in curing meat not least because nitrates and nitrites help inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria. Before domestic refrigeration, families would steep their slaughtered winter pig meat in tubs of salt and a little salt petre (potassium nitrate) so it would not go off and spoil over winter in our temperate, moist UK climate. These nitrates and nitrites also reduced blood oxidation which kept the meat pink and fresh looking. Our raw salt (sodium chloride) may well have a very few parts per million of natural nitrate/nitrite but we can't measure it....in effect it's zero.
When we first started out, our pigs were fed loads of local fresh fruit and veg, including windfall apples and pears, and the name came from there. To this day, many of the smallholders we work with supplement their pigs' diets with fallen/spare fruit, veg and cereals.
Whilst there is no legal definition for free range pork, it is generally accepted by the farming and food industry that free range means pigs spending their entire lives outdoors, with free access, at least to straw-filled arcs and outside fields. Our main product, fresh blood black pudding, is made mainly from british pork fat and fresh local blood collected by us in our local abattoir; we're qualified slaughter men. We are the ONLY company in the UK who collect and select their own fresh blood for black pudding production. Some of the animals we collect from are free range, some are organic, most are out door stall and some are high welfare in door pigs. We make 100s of kg of black pudding a week (have you seen how many butchery businesses we supply? Fruit Pig would not be viable if we only collected from free-range/organic pigs. The local, commercial farm used in our video is RSPCA authorised. The pigs are bred and grown in such a professional manner that the farm is antibiotic-free.
ALL the famous, national black pudding producers we know of make their black pudding from imported dried blood powder which is harvested in huge, indoor pork factory units in Spain, The Netherlands and Denmark.
The meat for our bacons comes from our business friends at Taste Tradition, farmers and butchers in Yorkshire. They have a mix of free-range and open-barn pigs on their local farms. We have dealt with them for many years and visit their farms at least once a year.
We like to think we play with a very straight bat. Free-range is not a simple yes/no, if you think it is you do not know farming. In our time, we have visited so-called free-range producers and have had to walk away as their ethics and standards were so poor. Conversaly, there are many commercial breeders out there, with the correct ethics and standards (in our eyes). Happy pigs are good commercial pigs. They are healthier, less stressed and grow better/faster.
Many are confused about food labelling definitions: out-door reared, free-range, out-door sired! etc. We think Compassion in World Farming have the best guide to this definition minefield. Their food guide is an excellent place to start to unravel.
It's all a matter of personal choice. Rare breeds were not rare years ago. As demand for meat increased after the Second World War, the faster growing, easier processing strains of animals became popular for farmers catering for the baby boomer generation. Most modern commercial breeds tended to put on less fat and grow to cull weight faster than what are now their rare breed counterpart cousins.
Yes you can. We don't have a shop, but if pre-arranged, we can accept visits for picking up. All we ask is for you to email your order a good few days in advance and we'll sort out a pick-up plan. We're at 6 Anglia Way, Wisbech. PE13 2TY, next door to Laker's Gym. We accept cash on pick up or we can email you the invoice for you to bank transfer.
Yes we do, quite often to mainland Europe. Although each country has specific delivery details, most European destinations are £40-£60, up to a 5 day service, up to 15kg of produce. All our produce is freshly cooked/prepared and boxes are heavily pack with ice. On receipt, unpack, portion up and freeze down. If refrigerating, halve the use-by-date to compensate for the extra day's of travelling. Please email us first with you delivery country and postcode (equivalent) so that we accurately quote.
We have a contract with a local biotech company. Our waste food production is sent to their anaerobic digestion plant some 9 miles away. Here, it is processed into a liquid porridge, and then pumped into the anaerobic digestion plant itself. Bacteria feed on the food waste and produce biogas. The biogas is captured and used as a fuel in CHP engines or sent directly to the gas grid.
Our current energy supplier is N Power. Their energy source mix is 32% renewable. We will look into reliable, greener solutions when our contract is up for renewing.
