Jamón Ibérico Is a Variety of Jamón Serrano, but in Order to Be Able to Use That Term It

Jamón Ibérico

Jamón Ibérico is a variety of jamón serrano, but in order to be able to use that term it has to comply with certain criteria, such as the breed of pig, feed and the maturing process.

The Iberian pig is also known as ‘pata negra’ because of its black hooves and its normally black skin, although there are black breeds which are not Iberian.

The hams come in different types depending on what the animals have lived from. The most distinguished Iberian ham is jamón de bellota, the acorn pig, with its nutty flavour. In order to achieve this term the feed must have consisted one hundred per cent of acorn and leaves from stone and cork oaks, and the pig must have put on 40 per cent of his weight in the wild. Jamón Ibérico Recebo is a lower denomination, where the animal has been fed corn in the last part of the fattening period (maximum 30 oer cent), and finally there is jamón de cebo which comes from a pig that been fed only corn.

It normally takes between 24 and 30 months to produce the perfect ham, and it is a must that at the time of the slaughter the pigs weigh between 170 and 180 kilos.

The hams are emptied of blood before the salting and is then put to dry for 2 weeks at a room temperature of 4 degrees celcius. After this the real maturing process starts in drying halls or cellars. While the hams are drying they loose up to a third of their weight, and the aroma is developed in this period. After 14-15 months the ham controller starts taking samples and check the aroma with thin needles.

Once you have bought a ham you can normally keep it for a maximum of 5-6 months. It should hang in a cool place, 10-20 degrees, but never in the fridge unless you have bought the sliced or vacuum packed variety.

The wider term ‘jamón serrano´is used about ham from any other breed of pig than the Iberian. The word ‘serrano’ is a deviation of the word for the word for mountain range and refers to the cool, dry mountain climate where the pigs are bred. The serrano pigs can for example be found in Granada and Salamanca, whereas the Iberian pig lives in western Andalucía and Extremadura.