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Herb and Kathy Eckhouse started La Quercia (La Kwair-shuh) officially in 2005, with the opening of their prosciuttifficio in Norwalk, Iowa just sound of Des Moines. Combined, they brought all the important skills together to develop such a business. Kathy had experience working as a ranch hand and also spent time as a researcher in Agricultural Economics at UC Berkeley. In the meantime, Herb spent years learning, practicing and perfecting the art and science of making the perfect prosciutto. The pig farmers supplying La Quercia all subscribe to humane practices - both for their animals and their surrounding communities. Animals are not in confinement and do not receive subtheraputic antibiotics. All of the pigs have opportunities to congregate, root and be outdoors. All of the animals come to the prociuttifficio from slaughterhouses no farther than 200 miles away and most of the farms are also within that radius. All of the meats produced by La Quercia are whole muscle meats and cured in the traditional manner with dry salting and long hanging periods. The length of aging depends directly on the size of the pieces of meat. The La Quercia line includes a variety of Prosciutto made from various breeds of pigs, some with unique diets. They also make coppa, lonza, guanciale, bacon, and speck.
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