A Spanish Delicacy Grazes in Texas

Sergio Marsal and Manuel Murga are standing in a Columbus, Texas, slaughterhouse describing their plan to turn the Spanish pigs they’ve been raising on a nearby ranch into a cured ham often considered the world’s best: jamón Ibérico de bellota, as it’s known in Spain. “Instead of importing it, we’re making it here,” Marsal says. “Like the Europeans who planted vines in California.”

Acornseekers, the duo’s three-year-old company, based in Flatonia, Texas, is the first to bring Ibérico pigs, a breed indigenous to Spain and Portugal, to the U.S. for commercial production. The omnivorous animals graze freely in pastures dotted with oak trees, feasting on the hundreds of pounds of acorns they find in the winter, a centuries-old tradition. The goal is to produce nutty, marbled meat that’s as good as or better than what’s available from Spain’s multibillion-dollar pork industry, the world’s fourth-largest producer and exporter. About 50 high-end restaurants across the U.S. have sought Acornseekers’ fresh cuts of pork, which it started selling in small amounts in April, Murga says. “We’re saying no to clients that want a lot.”