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Today we will tell you about jamon, a traditional and gourmet Spanish dish made from pork legs.
Jamon in translation means "ham".
It gained worldwide fame primarily due to its bright taste.
There are two types: The first is Serrano: it is made from an ordinary
white pig, which is kept only in a barn and fed with compound feed, and in the later stages
wheat and corn are added to the diet.
The second is Iberico: high quality and expensive (its cost is 5-10 times the price of Serrano).
It is produced from a black Iberian pig, which is either raised on pasture or, in the second
half of the fattening period, is released into the field, where it feeds on grass and
acorns.
To learn all about Iberico ham, you should visit the town of Cortegana, in the province
of Sierra de Huelva in Andalusia, in Spain.
Iberian ham, or Iberico jamon, is one of the most expensive meat dishes in the world.
But what is it about this cured meat that makes it so expensive?
The reason why it's so prestigious is actually behind the host's back.
As you can see, there are several pigs behind her, and they are from a special breed called
black Iberian pigs.
During their lives, they mainly eat acorns, which are very, very abundant here in the
Sierra, and this is what gives this ham such a special taste.
So, in our video we will show the ham factory and learn more about how real jamon is made.
Then we will talk about how ham is cut, how it is served, and we will try to understand
why it is so expensive.
Black Iberian pigs are descended from wild boars and have long been considered a delicacy.
In 77, the Roman writer Pliny the Elder praised their superior quality.
In 1493, when Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean for the second time,
Iberian pigs were on his caravels.
The most expensive ham sells for €4,100, which is over $4,500.
But despite the high price, this ham remains a local favorite.
Black Iberian pigs can be found in the southern and western regions of the Iberian Peninsula,
which includes Spain and Portugal.
In Spain, the production of Iberian ham is limited to the provinces of Salamanca, Huelva,
Córdoba, Cáceres and Badajoz.
Portugal also produces it under the name presunto Ibérico.
Spanish Iberian ham is protected from fakes.
Each jamon, like the elite brands of Spanish wines, has a label, the so-called quality
mark - Denominacion de Origen.
It contains all the main characteristics of jamon: province; pasture; pig number; ham
weight before salting; salting start date; deadline for sending to the camera; exposure
duration.
The five Spanish provinces where it is produced are divided into four different protected
denominations of origin.
Of the total production of Iberian ham, only 6% have a black label indicating that it is
100% pure Iberian.
Iberian pigs are raised in an ecosystem known as dehesa.
This is the cultural landscape of southern and central Spain, usually reserved for pastures.
The area is very rugged and mountainous.
It's hard to get to him.
It is ideal for breeding Iberian pigs.
They are very hardy and tolerate the cold and harsh climate of the mountains well.
These conditions contribute to obtaining a high nutritional value of pork meat.
The Iberian pig comes directly from the wild boar.
So these are pigs that have much more muscle mass and less fat.
All this fat is inside the whole muscle, not outside the meat.
The life of pigs is constantly under control, from the very moment of birth.
About 100,000 Iberian pigs are raised on the pasture.
These pigs are very productive.
Each female brings up to seven piglets for one litter, which stay with her for up to
25 days, and after that they are taken.
Then they grow for two months in another room with controlled temperature.
Since the pig is a high-quality animal, it is fed accordingly.
The pigs live in the wild, roaming freely in the dehes.
According to the rules, there should not be more than two pigs per hectare of pasture.
Dehesa is rich in olives, nuts, and berries, but especially acorns, called "bellotas" in
Spanish, which are rich in nutrients and fatty acids.
In fact, it is a superfood for pigs.
At the stage when the piglets are from three months to a year old, producers strive for
them to increase in size, and not too much in weight.
Therefore, they are slightly limited in food so that they do not get too fat.
On the pastures where they are fed, there is practically no grass, but there are plenty
of acorns.
So that pigs do not spoil the roots of trees, they are specially pierced with patches, which
makes the digging process almost impossible.
Eating natural products, the animal itself chooses what it needs in the corresponding
ecosystem.
They graze among common, cork oaks and other trees, where acorns, nuts, herbs and aromatic
plants alternate.
Grazing starts in October and ends in February.
At this time, all the gifts of the pasture are used.
From sunrise to sunset, pigs do only two things - eat and rest.
Their weight can reach up to 60 kilograms.
First, they eat sweet acorns from ordinary oaks, this is their favorite delicacy.
Then they move on to cork oak acorns, and for a snack they prefer various herbs.
They should eat 7 kg each.
acorns per day.
After 45 days of grazing, the fatty acids found in the acorns are converted into animal
fat, and you get that wonderful blend of proteins and healthy fats that allows nutritionists
to talk about the health effects of ham.
So, having learned all about the black Iberian pig and why it is such a special pig, different
from any other breed, to learn about the process of making ham, you should visit the local
Laso company in the city of Cortegana.
Dried jamon has always been associated with places where the temperature is quite low
and the air is clean, filled with the aroma of pines and oaks.
These are ideal conditions for preserving ham.
A good ham has a long way to go.
After the pig is cut, the sorting of the pieces begins.
Some of them will go for jamon, some for various sausages.
The ham comes from the hind leg of a pig.
Most companies also process the front leg, called paleta, and use the rest of the meat
for other products like chorizo.
Laso keeps over 150,000 feet in its cellars.
Some of the hams produced here come from an even rarer breed of Iberian pigs, the Manchado
de Jabugo, which have black spots on their skin and can only be found in the Sierra de
Huelva.
Pigs are slaughtered at the age of 15 months.
To get an elite jamon, you need to slaughter pigs before the end of March.
Then the ham and pallet are buried in sea salt for 15–20 days, depending on the weight,
based on one and a half days for each kilogram of weight.
Leaving the ham for long weeks under a layer of salt will give it a new long life and the
necessary taste.
After washing, the ham again falls into the dryer, now for 4-5 months.
This is done so that the meat does not spoil.
After salting, the process begins to gradually slow down.
Feet spend about two months in a temperature-controlled room.
Then they are moved to a ventilated room for six to nine months.
Drying is carried out in natural conditions at low temperature and humidity, which gradually
increase.
In the mountains of Huelva, with their unique temperature and climatic conditions, the ham
naturally sweats, the fat melts, and is filled with mountain air.
Ham acquires a fat content, certain flavors and smells that are completely different from
other types of products.
To check the condition of the piece, a tasting is carried out.
The slices are pierced from three sides, corresponding to the location of the blood vessels.
At this stage, the piece is lubricated with butter.
This procedure will be carried out again before sending the jamon to the cellar.
Being in the cellars is the final stage of exposure, and also the longest.
Here the jamon will be at a stable temperature.
In fact, it is in the basement that jamons begin to be created, turning out so dense
and tight.
The average Iberian ham takes a couple of years to reach its peak flavor, but some legs
can take much longer to dry.
The holding time depends on the weight.
Pieces of ham can stay here for two, three or even four years.
To get a better idea of how Iberian ham is labeled in the market, you can visit Productos
de la Sierra, a shop in Seville that stocks local products from Andalusia, no further
than 250 kilometers away.
Iberian ham has four quality categories, represented by four seals.
The maximum quality has a black print and is 100% Iberian pig "de bellota".
This means that the mother and father were 100% Iberian "de bellota" pigs, and that the
pig was free-range raised and fed on acorns.
The next seal is red.
This means that the mother is 100% Iberian, but the father is of a different breed called
the Duroc.
Then there are the pigs, which are free-range raised but not fed exclusively on acorns,
they are marked with a green seal.
This is a pig "de campo" (village).
And the last category is the lowest quality, obtained as a result of intensive farming.
It is marked with a white stamp.
How to check if it's a good ham?
A good ham has soft tissue, and the fat should melt at a low temperature.
As with its origin and environment, Iberian ham is carved using a specific technique that
can take a long time to learn.
Iberian ham is cut with a long, narrow and very flexible knife.
It is very important to always cut in the direction of the muscle so that the texture
of fat and meat always remains the same.
A special knife allows you to get the maximum number of slices every time you cut the ham.
It also gives you the opportunity to create beautiful designs from cut slices.
To try jamon with your family, you should start cutting it along the bone.
Jamon is usually eaten quickly, so you need to cut it in the widest place.
First, an incision is made with a wide knife perpendicular to the bone, and then hold the
knife around.
The removed strips of fat should be set aside in order to use them later when storing a
piece.
They need to be placed over the cut, and the meat will be remarkably preserved.
Slices should be cut along the piece.
The cut should be very thin, almost transparent and no more than 5 centimeters in length.
A large number of veins in the transparent fat is
typical
for high quality jamon.
In addition to a long knife and a special board for cutting jamon, which fix the piece,
the plate on which the meat will be served is very important.
She shouldn't be cold.
The optimum room temperature is 20-22 degrees.
When cutting jamon, do not overload the plate too much.
And as the experts say, you just need to cover it.
Unfortunately, the export of
genuine high quality Iberico ham from Spain is prohibited.
The production of a delicacy dry-cured product is quite complex, multi-stage and costly.
Therefore, not even all local residents have the opportunity to enjoy Spanish ham.
In the domestic market, you can only find jamon of the “serrana” type.
In Spain, inexpensive varieties can be bought at an affordable price in any supermarket.
But for those who want to taste and only then make a purchase, you should visit a special
restaurant - jamoneria.
That's all.
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