When Catherine and Luke Hamson bought their 50-acre farm in the Western Australian town of Coolup – about an hour south of Perth – 12 years ago, they quickly realised their property’s burgeoning macadamia operation wouldn’t pay the bills. 

Inspired by their Italian neighbours, and the ubiquitously Western European practice of feeding pigs acorns and chestnuts to improve the flavour of the meat’s fat, they bought two Berkshire breed sows and founded Hamlet Pork.

“There’s no money in macadamias,” Catherine Hamson says. “The grower gets something like $3 per kilo. We thought the pigs would actually complement the macadamias because they eat whatever we can’t harvest. Nothing gets wasted, and we get to make macadamia-fed prosciutto.” 

The breed of pigs, too, was chosen in service of the cured meat dream, inspired by the pata negra pigs of Spain that are fed acorns to produce a more flavourful jamón. 

“We read a lot about the quality of the pork and which breeds are good. When it comes to curing you need that extra fat, and Berkshire fat has a real buttery, sweet flavour.”

Dreams of this Euro-style cured pork even led the Hamsons to build an underground bunker on the property to house the prosciutto, salami and other similar marriages of pork and time made from the celebrated pigs that roam above.

But while Hamlet Pork’s macadamia-spiked smallgoods remain a passion for the Hamsons (who have just started offering on-site salami making courses), it’s the premium, pasture-raised pork meat that’s developed an ardent following in restaurants and at farmers markets throughout WA’s South West, and that has earned them the coveted From the Paddock trophy in the 2020 delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards.

“We had the intention of making heaps of cured meat,” Hamson says, “but it’s a cashflow issue when you’re sticking something underground for 18 months. Not to mention the labour, packaging and everything else.”

Having previously had to compete with butchers and wholesalers selling inferior, mass-produced pigs, Hamlet Pork teamed up with a co-operative of local producers called ‘Dirty Clean Food’ who, as the name suggests, utilise regenerative farming techniques to better care for their land and, ultimately, producer a higher quality product.

“We found, once we aligned with the group, that it’s given more value to what the product is. There’s a real demand for quality, pasture-raised fresh pork.”

These regenerative principles see the pigs moved to new paddocks every few days, giving the land time to recover and ensuring the pigs have access to fresh pasture year-round. 

“The animal fertilises and regenerates the soil, then you move the animal. They’re basically growing their own pasture to come back to.”

It’s these pastures, and the lack of chemical intervention through pesticides or synthesised fertilisers, that Catherin Hamson believes makes Hamlet Pork taste as good as it does. 

“If someone’s been using chemicals, you can taste it in the fat of the meat. You taste the fat on this chemical-free, pasture-raised meat and it’s clean, buttery and just how pork should taste.”

For more details on the delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards, head here.