The Fruit Pig Company – Featured Producer

The Fruit Pig Company is a bespoke butchery company based in East Anglia. It is owned and managed by Matthew Cockin and Grant Harper, with their specialty being traditional, rare breed meats and the production of joints and award winning charcuterie. Naturally, we wanted to know a little more, so Matt, kindly, answered a few questions for us.

The Fruit Pig Company was established in 2008. Tell us a little about the company origins and what prompted you to start the business…

Originally, I cut up pigs and sheep for smallholders in my spare time from working in a local butchers and running a smallholding.  Sometimes I made their sausages, bacons and hams too.  One customer was so enamoured with a sausage recipe we had produced she sent out tasters to local restaurants and hotels in Norfolk and Lincolnshire.  Before long, orders rolled in.  These original pigs were autumn pigs fed primarily on leftovers from a local fruit and veg wholesaler…Fruit Pig was born!

You both have very different career background(s), how did you develop your knowledge of rare breeds, butchery, and charcuterie?

I had 20 years in the RAF and Grant was a horticulturalist and landscaper.  Both of us independently moved to Norfolk and bought smallholding 6 miles apart.  Grant joined Fruit Pig a couple of years after I had started.  I learnt butchery at college in North London after leaving the RAF and Grant learnt on-the-job.   There are many smallholders in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, so both of us learnt our smallholding skills by doing and listening to those more expert.  The same can also be said in butchery, both of us have researched and tested many cuts and recipes; we are both ‘foodies’.  We love being tested and challenged by our chefs.  A recent challenge was to produce a pork cut called ‘Presa’ for one of our local, award-winning chefs.  We have always tried to keep it real; this is why we are one of the few producers of real, fresh blood black pudding in the UK.

Club Note: Presa is a very tender, well marbled, cut from between the top of the shoulder and the beginning of the loin (not usually separated by British butchers).

Which rare breeds do you raise / source and why is it important to you to use these varieties?

I don’t have a smallholding now, when I did, I raised and bred Gloucesters.  Grant has tasted and bred most breeds.  Raising and supporting rare and traditional breeds ensures that those breeds do not die out.  It is a well-used line, “the more you eat them, the breeders will breed them”.

Are locally sourced animals and ingredients an important factor in making your products the best they can be?

We try and keep as local as possible.  When not locally available, we go as far a field as Yorkshire for our rare and traditional breed produce.  Unlike a high street butcher or farm shop, we supply wholesale and UK-wide.  Currently, our fresh blood black pudding production requires well over 100kg a week of rare / traditional breed pork fat.  Yes, a locally based wholesaler can supply us, however, their fat is Spanish or Dutch, but it is at least half the cost of what we have to pay.  I’m sure the quality is fine but that is not what we are about.

What are the main products in your current product range?

Our main sellers are our national and international award winning fresh blood black pudding and our mutton bacon.