The History of Pork Scratchings June 11, 2021 19:07

The legend of the humble yet awesome pork scratching is nearly as old as time itself. Quite possibly the oldest snack on earth, known as chicharrones by the Spanish it was invented thousands of years ago and eaten today across the world. Us Brits collectively refer to fried pig skin as pork scratchings, which we took a shine to during the Industrial Revolution.

It was common for factory workers to keep a pig in the garden which is why the Black Country is famous for the meaty morsel. So although we would assume the Midlands was the centre of the pork crackling Big Bang, it was more widely accepted that old Christopher Columbus likely had a packet of the good stuff when he landed his little Italian feet on those ginormous shores of America.

For the past 200 years, they have remained unchanged until we, Snaffling Pig, came along, and that may be the greatest thing to have happened to food since the invention of sliced bread; well, that's what our mum says and we're sticking to it.

Awesome flavoured pork crackling

Why are they called Pork Scratchings?

So you've landed on this page because you're probably in a pub. Your mate's just got a round in and plonked a pack of pork crackling on the table. This has led to a heated debate about why has Snaffling Pig called them crackling when the pack you had last week from your local off license said scratchings. Well strap in, you're in great company as we take a moment to explain the difference.  

Americans love to call things differently. Elevator, trunk, fanny, pants & pork rinds. BTW I just won £10 from George, our Head of Marketing as I managed to shoehorn the word fanny into a blog post about pork crackling. Hah, just did it twice. Fanny...*giggles*

Pork rinds in the States are more commonly known as pork crunch here, or even Porky Puffs at Snaffling Pig. Are there any other differences between pork snacks? Well, we know you've always wanted to know what Filipino, Canadian, and Portuguese people call pork scratchings! Click the link above to find out more.

What is it about Pork Scratchings?

The beauty of pork scratchings is in their simplicity. You take a lovely slab of pork skin, typically from the shank (top of the pig's back leg), cut into large pieces around 4cm in length, fry for about 30 minutes, then season, typically with salt. This simplicity means you have nowhere to hide, so Snaffling Pig uses only the finest quality pork, oil and seasoning available and cook it to perfection. Of course, it’s a natural product so there is always the chance of a stray piece of hair, no matter how much we try to avoid it, pigs are hairy and as we use 100% real pork this can creep past our stringent quality control. Nothing we are ever ashamed of, but we know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

And whilst we are on that subject, that is precisely why some people piggin’ love pork scratchings, because quite frankly there are a lot of people out there who don’t. It’s as divisive as the classic Marmite debate. Pork scratchings are an indulgent treat, for some peeps they are a dirty little secret. Is it socially acceptable to eat them down the pub? HELL YEAH. Can you eat them on your morning commute on the 8:10 from Watford. NOPE... but we’d love to meet the legend who does for they are sooooo Porky Supermarket and that blatant confidence is just the type of snaffler that we need in our lives.

Did you know?

National Pork Rind Appreciation Day is celebrated on Super Bowl Sunday each year in the USA!

A packet of Snaffling Pig Pork Crackling

What are the best flavoured Pork Scratchings?

Many things go well together.

Sonny & Cher.

Torvill and Dean.

Weetabix and Heinz Beanz.

Pork scratchings and flavours others than salt.

So well in fact Snaffling Pig has made it our mission to bring flavours to the humble but awesome pork snack. Did you know that for hundreds of years, the only thing added to pork scratchings were salt. Until Snaffling Pig had the bright idea that we could add chilli, or maple, or black pepper, hell even fennel. So when we launched back in 2015 we bought out a range of frankly awesome flavoured porky snacks with 9 different seasons. Some we got right...Pig of Doom...and some failed miserably...Cranberry and Orange...don't ask.

Now other brands have seen the light and jumped on the metaphorical porky band wagon but that's not stopping this SP train and we continue to do more and more exciting flavours that get those taste buds tingling in anticipation. Over the last 6 years, our customers have voted with their wallets and these are the most popular flavours. 

  1. Snaffling Pig Marvellous Maple flavoured pork crackling
  2. Snaffling Pig Habanero Chilli flavoured pork crackling
  3. Snaffling Pig Salt & Vinegar flavoured pork crackling
  4. Snaffling Pig Black Pepper flavoured pork crackling
  5. Snaffling Pig Sweet Chilli flavoured pork crackling

You can check out our full range of flavours, right here.

We asked our mums!

Out of all the pork scratching brands out there, that one in the black pack, the see through one, the white bag, the brown bag, that one run by that chap, what are the best pork scratchings available? They tried them all and this is what they said. 

  1. Snaffling Pig Marvellous Maple Porky Puffs (click to buy)
  2. Snaffling Pig Black Pepper Pork Crackling (click to buy)
  3. Snaffling Pig Hot to Trot Habenero Pork Crackling (click to buy)
  4. Snaffling Pig Low & Slow BBQ Porky Puffs (click to buy)
  5. Snaffling Pig Salt 'N' Vinegar Pork Crackling (click to buy)

Can you believe it? Not a single one of our competitors made it into the Top 5?

Thanks mums.