William von Schneidau, an intrepid butcher in Seattle, is giving a whole new meaning to “potbelly pig.”
Lately, he’s been feeding marijuana refuse to the pigs he turns into prosciutto for BB Ranch, his butcher shop in the city’s famous Pike Place Market.
The stems, leaves and root bulbs von Schneidau recoups from , a medical
marijuana dispensary, don’t season the meat, he says. But the meat from
the first few “pot pigs” he’s butchered has been “redder and more
savory” than what he usually works with, he says.
Still, von Schneidau’s creative reuse of a local waste product is part of a larger trend of small farmers looking for new, free sources of livestock feed, especially since prices for corn and soy have been on the rise.
In addition to the pot refuse, von Schneidau has linked up ranchers and farmers in the region with a vodka distillery and with vegetable vendors at Pike Place Market who have waste that would otherwise end up as compost or in the landfill.
NPR goes on to say:
“Scientists at the European Union Food Safety Authority looked into the safety of using hemp, a plant that’s a close relative of marijuana, in feed for dairy cows. When the cows were fed hemp plants, enough THC made its way into their milk that the scientists recommended prohibiting its use. (However, feeding the cows hemp seeds was just fine, they found.)”
So, are you keen to have dagga in your next pork pie?
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