The best 'aging' is on the hoof... killing it at the right size and age; dressed about 200 - 240 lbs. You get the body heat out of it and chilled down to 38°, start cutting! i've dealt with plenty of 'aged' hogs - it's called half rotten and slimy, left too long in the barn. Esp boar hogs - OMG what a rotten smell, even fresh killed!
Hello, Pops, Newbie here and would like to learn more from your personal experiences with aged hogs. I agree with you on sooner the better to process. Half rotten and slimy, yeah a little late at that point! How long have you seen hogs aged hanging chilled and or right at the point of frozen and still been good?
The best 'aging' is on the hoof... killing it at the right size and age; dressed about 200 - 240 lbs. You get the body heat out of it and chilled down to 38°, start cutting! i've dealt with plenty of 'aged' hogs - it's called half rotten and slimy, left too long in the barn. Esp boar hogs - OMG what a rotten smell, even fresh killed!
Pops ,Once 'aging' for more than 48 hours once chilled, the meat deteriorates rapidly and airborne bacteria grows quickly, taking it from 'fresh' to 'tainted' to 'ripe' to 'spoiled', each a progressive day apart. 2 week old killed pork is rotten.
When you add up, processing in the mid-west, transportation to regional hubs with storage, transportation to grocery and restaurant distributors with storage then transportation to the end user retail stores and stored...That hog has to be dead 2 weeks, +/-, before it even hits your smoker. If slaughter to rotten is 2 weeks, I wonder how ANY pork is edible? Or is there a diference in sanitation and handling at national packers and at Mom and Pop slaughter/butcher or on farm kill facilities?...JJ