The idea

The idea came into existence between the end of 2000 and the beginning in 2001 during the slaughter season. It ocurred to one of the partners of the company, Paulino, who at the time bred rabbits, that rabbit meat might be just as good as any other meat to submit to the process of traditional curing as had been done at his parents' house all his life. He marinated some of this own rabbit meat, and smoked it along side chorizos, spiced sausages, etc. for a few days. When the meat had turned a pinkish colour, similar to that of cecina (smoked beef), he decided to ask his mother to cook it whichever way seemed best to her, since he had never dish. During the meal the comment was made that it might be interesting to commercilize such a product as smoked rabbit meat, and we decided to take our first steps in that direction.

Starting the business

At first we asked the opinion of Carlos D. Cidón, a chef at the restaurant Vivaldi in León, if he thought restaurants might be interested in such a product as we had achieved. We already imagined that its market price would be high and possibly not affordable for the general public. After trying the product with several recipes, Sr Cidón encouraged us to continue with our project and added some dishes, including semi-cured rabbit meat, to his menu.

From then on we took the necessary steps to set up the business, both in terms of physical and fiscal reality, and finally, in July 2002, we began operations as "Manga Martínez S.L.", using the commercial name "Conejo Ahumado Leonés, La Artesa". This did not mean the end of our research concerning the product we make, as the new installations are different to the ones in Villaturiel, where the first rabbits were cured.

New ideas

It was necessary to carry out new tests for controlling temperature, humidity, and processing time, in order to obtain a product of top quality. As we proceeded during these tests we came up with new ideas concerning this wonderful meat: if we left it to dry longer, would we obtain "ham"? - apart from an entire rabbit, would it be a good a idea to offer it in pieces? We put these new ideas into practice and obtained good reuslts.

Within a short time we began to offer our customers rabbit traditionally marinated, little chops, loin, sirloin, shoulder, and, of course, rabbit ham. Some of these varieties were presented to the press in September of 2002, and to the general public at the Food Fair of Typical Products from León, which took place in October of the same year. There we could see that our product awakened great interest.

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