What Is GoldenWurst?
It is a name on a label, which means it tells you nothing by itself. Here is what is actually behind it.
GoldenWurst is a name we put on a breakfast blend. A name on a label is marketing until somebody says what is behind it, so here is what is behind it.
What it is
Pasture-raised pork, ground, with a breakfast seasoning: sage-forward, mildly sweet, no heat to speak of. It is the blend you want with eggs. We sell it ground and as links.
What it is not
It is not a traditional German sausage, whatever the name suggests, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. It is a house breakfast blend with a house name.
“Instead of asking, is this organic? I would ask either where did this come from? If you don't know who grew it, then you don't know what the chain is.”
Gray Shipley
Which is the question we would rather you asked about any product, including ours. Not what is it called, but where did it come from and what is in it.
“Yeah, when it's just, when it's made of food, I say food made of food. What I mean is food that actually comes from real. Food products, real things that are grown or raised things that are natural. And when you prepare something out of real food ingredients, it can just taste the difference.”
Gray Shipley
How it differs from the mild
- GoldenWurst. Sage and a touch of sweetness. Breakfast, with eggs, in a hash.
- Mild. Plainer, less seasoning, more flexible. Better when something else is leading.
- Italian or chorizo. Different direction entirely: see chorizo against Italian.
“And the industry doesn't use other natural ingredients. It used substitutes and we're not made to eat substitutes.”
Gray Shipley
How to cook it is in how to cook breakfast sausage.
Our house breakfast blend. Sage forward, pasture-raised pork.
View ProductWhat is GoldenWurst pork sausage?
Our breakfast sausage blend, sold ground and as links.
- Meat and Poultry Labeling Terms, USDA FSIS
- Cook to a Safe Minimum Internal Temperature, FoodSafety.gov
Food-safety temperatures and storage times on this page are cited to the agencies above rather than to us.
Written at Shipley Farms in Vilas, North Carolina: a family cattle farm raising and dry-aging beef in the Appalachian Mountains, now in its fifth generation. No shortcuts since 1872.
Every quote on this page is Gray Shipley talking, the man who runs this farm. We sat down with him, turned on a recorder, and kept his own words. Hesitations are trimmed so they read on the page. Nothing else is added or reworded, except where Gray revised his own words in review.
Nobody knows this beef better than we do. On food safety we leave it to USDA FSIS and FoodSafety.gov, and we have linked their pages above. Reviewed 3 October 2026.
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