All animals reflect the feed they are given, but none more so than a pig. If you can buy from farmers who allow their pigs to range in a field of fallen apples, figs or even onions, you’ll taste the difference. The pig has always been central to the Barossa tradition, given the German heritage of the Valley. When I first settled here in 1973, almost every farm was mixed, including a vineyard and it was normal practice to have a couple hundred chooks, fifty turkeys and geese for the Christmas market and a pig or two, complete with mud holes for wallowing. This tradition of the mixed farm has dwindled in later years, but there are still those who keep their own pigs to slaughter each year, and they are rewarded with the most amazing flavour as a result of their farming efforts. -MB

Celebrate pork with these family-favourite recipes:

1. Pork and Fennel Sausage Rolls

2. Caramelised Pork Belly with Fig Vino Cotto and Roasted Fennel

3. Fig and Fennel Pork Pasties

4. Pork Meatballs with Sugo

5. Berkshire Pork Loin with Cavolo Nero, Verjuice and Grapes with Granny Smith Sauce