[Spanish Guitar Music]
Olive oil is unquestionably one of Andalucía’s most important products.
Few are the chefs and food professionals who haven’t heard that
Andalucía produces much more olive oil than any other region of the world.
But Andalucía’s gastronomy doesn’t begin and end with olive oil.
Olives too play an important role on the Andalucian table.
Almost every bar starts off a tapas selection with a plate of cured green olives —
— large and succulent manzanillas or gordales…
or aceitunas machacada, lightly crushed and mixed with thyme or fennel,
just the thing to accompany a glass of dry fino or manzanilla.
A number of other products from this dazzling region deserve to be better known.
One of the most prestigious is without a doubt jamón ibérico or jamón de bellota,
the very special ham that is produced from pigs like these.
They’re a breed called Iberian or ibérico,
a very ancient breed of black pig.
Another name for the pig is pata negra, or black hoof,
indicating the pigs’ color.
An important factor in the quality of jamón ibérico is the way the pigs feed,
grazing on the dehesa, a unique ecosystem in the western part of Andalucía
where vast oak forests provide a primeval diet of acorns,
as well as roots and grubs, for the pigs.
The curing system is long and slow
and relies on natural factors like fresh air and cold weather.
Finally, the hams are hung in a dry lofty space for up to a year
and then transferred to the more humid climate of a bodega or cellar
for as much as two years before they’re considered ready to eat.
It’s the cellar master’s job to figure out when the ham is ready.
To do that, he inserts a thin bone —actually from a horse’s thigh—
right into the ham then sniffs deeply and considers the aroma.
When it’s perfect, the ham goes to market....
or it gets sliced right on the premises.
Notice the black hoof on this ham — a reminder why it’s called pata negra.
Slicing jamón ibérico is a great art
and the finest cellar masters are also masters of this technology.
Jamón ibérico is not the only ham from Andalucía.
There are also a number of mountain hams, "jamón serrano,"
that are made from the meat of a more common breed of white pig.
They’re cured in a similar fashion except for the final finishing in a humid bodega.
Instead, jamón serrano goes straight to market after its final curing in an airy attic.
While jamón ibérico, with its distinctive umami flavor and aroma,
is rightly judged as one of the crowning glories of Spanish gastronomy,
jamón serrano is not to be dismissed.
In his tiny shop called La Oliva in the heart of Granada,
Francisco Lillo has collected very special food products from all over Andalucía....
Olive oils, vinegars, cheeses, fine sherries, and of course jamón.
The ham on his left, which he’s slicing now, is a jamón ibérico
while the one on Francisco’s right is a jamón serrano from the Alpujarras.
While we were visiting him, Francisco made a delightful tapa, very simply,
with thin slices of head cheese on lettuce leaves,
dressed with salt, pepper and an aged wine vinegar.
This particular vinegar is made from aged Montilla,
a local wine from Córdoba and Pedros Ximenes,
a very sweet wine made from sun-dried grapes.
Another, more familiar vinegar from Andalucía is aged sherry wine vinegar,
like the vinegar aging in these barrels at Vinagres de Yema in Puerto de Santa Maria.
Inge Hermann is the export manager
and explains something about the complex process by which this superb ingredient is created...
[Inge Hermann] There's an official definition by the "consejo regulador,"
for standard sherry vinegar, it must have been at least six months in wood barrels....
And for the reservoir for at least two years.
We have [....] which are the bells which will be the barrels on the floor,
from the Spanish word "suelo."
And we take about 1/3 out for delivery of a bottling
and this 1/3 is being substituted by the first Criadera,
and then we make it again from the first Criadera to the second, to the third, and through the fourth, and so on....
[Narrator] Spanish sheep milk cheeses are well known,
so it’s a little surprising to find that Andalucía is famous for some very fine goat’s milk cheeses,
and that in fact the region around Zuheros,
a tiny village in the Subbetica Mountains south of Cordoba,
used to be the largest area for goat-cheese production in all of Europe,
according to Juan de Dios Serrano,
head of the local cheese-maker’s cooperative.
[Juan de Dios Serrano translated voice over] Indeed, starting about 20 years ago,
the number of small cheese producers of artisanal shops like this one
have increased dramatically,
and these producers have taken the lead from household production,
and producing just for their families,
to something more professional,
and have been producing cheese for the current market.
Currently in Andalucía we have about 100 small cheese producers, similar to this one.
[Narrator] And every year they all get together for a raucous celebration of all things cheese.
This village of just 800 souls welcomes every year in September
a crowd of up to 10,000 cheese lovers
who flock here to taste offerings from all over Spain....
....Although the locally made cheeses are, of course, most prominent.
There are goat’s milk, sheep milk, even cow’s milk cheeses on offer,
and there should be enough for everyone to get a taste.
Even small children dig in happily,
especially when there is cheese to be made.
In Andalucía, cheese-making is a tradition that carries on over the generations.
Hopefully, in the future, more and more of these excellent cheeses will be available in fine cheese markets in the U.S.
[Spanish Guitar Music playing]
A most unusual product that is not well known in America
but ought to be on every conscientious chef and restaurateur’s list of must-haves:
Río Frío caviar,
produced in the mountains west of Granada
on the banks of a cold mountain stream appropriately called Río Frío.
[Sergio Casares speaking] If you want to know when is a really good caviar, which is very important,
it's a whenever the roe explode inside your mouth,
the membrane of the roe must disappear....
If you keep filling the membrane in your mouth,
it's because it's been pasteurized or is not a good quality caviar.
The process is a very delicate process, because as you know, caviar is a very delicate product.
We have like a surgery room where we produce caviar.
We must have everything clean with alcohol.
The process is — the person who kills the animal, open the animal up....
separate the meat from the animal,
and the person who is gonna make the caviar,
get the hands inside the fish without touching the outside of the animal,
because the animal comes with any kind of bacteria,
we don't want to contaminate the caviar.
So, this person get their hands inside....
remove the Kona....
And then they go through a net with the Kona, to separate the Kona from the roe.
This roe must be washed with really cold water,
and then must be sold.
My Caviar Master, eh.... we have different recipes....
and depending on the flavor of the caviar,
The Caviar Master uses one recipe or a different recipe.
And the whole process takes no longer than 15 minutes.
So, if you get a 40 kilogram of sturgeon,
we goes from four to six kilogram of caviar.
Now, we'll put it in what we call the Mother Tin.
It's a tin of one kilogram of 1.8 kilograms.
We mature the caviar for at least four months.
The main point of our facilities
is that our animal live in the spring water.
I mean really spring water, because the source of the water
is 50 meters from our facilities and we don't control the temperature.
The most important part of exporting caviar,
we must be totally sure that our importer....
....he is gonna keep the caviar at the correct temperature.
The perfect temperature to have caviar is at 8°C degrees Celsius.
When, you know, when caviar is served, usually is at 4°C degrees Celsius,
so it's a little colder, that it should be.
The cold chain — it's so important this product.
If you leave the caviar at room temperature for....
....one, two days.... we can forget about that tin.
One thing which is very, very important, in order to have caviar is...
once you're gonna have caviar, make something special!
[Narrator] When you explore the riches of Andalusia,
you will find more than just beautiful countryside,
fascinating history and an exciting cuisine....
you'll find a bounty of specialty products.