In the Basque country, the most beloved snack is a long spindly spicy sausage called chistorria. This sausage is only semi-preserved, and often quickly fried in a splash of the local dry white wine, Txokoli, making it an entirely regional experience. It didn’t seem right to come to this part of the world without paying homage some of the farmers and makers of the pork products that make their way into almost every meal. So, on a Saturday morning my friend Noemi, local expert and leader of of The Basque Way, took me to visit Agurtzane and her family farm, Ezkurtxterri. At the end of a winding road through vineyards we came upon an award winning pigs and a vault full of the best chistorria in the region.

After raising pigs for 15 years, Agurtzane and her family decided to make their own pork products in-house. Their pigs eat acorns that are specific to this region, growing in a coastal climate but slightly inland. This rich diet produces especially tasty results, so Ezkurtxterri figured that with these superior pigs they could take the classic Basque products to the next level which won them the most prestigious prize of all at the regional food festival, the Txapelduna Txistorria de Santo Tomas,– the large Basque beret seen above.

This prize is the greatest honor — in Basque country they don’t mess with tacky trophies, they value oversized, elegant hats instead.