What you need to know about Jamon Iberico
You walk into a bar. As you order your drink, you notice that propped on the counter to your right is a hoof. That hoof is attached to a rather large piece of ham. You watch as the bartender carefully shaves thin slices of ruby-red meat and places them side-by-side on a plate. You order your round of drinks and ask for a plate of Jamón Ibérico and Pan con Tomate. You’re in heaven now, and the place you’ve landed in is the Iberian Peninsula. This is your guide to Jamon Iberico or jamon serrano. This is Spanish ham and it is the best!
If you know anything about food from Spain, you know that they are obsessed with one thing: dry-cured ham. There is no bar, no restaurant, or no self-respecting home that does not have a shoulder (paleta) or ham (Jamón) to offer guests. In North America, we often think of cured ham as Proscuitto but in Spain, it is called Jamón Iberico and it is spectacular.
As with a fine wine or a delectable cheese, in order to cure the perfect morsel, you need time. Plenty of time. Cured meat and ham are not unique to Spain, you will find some versions of cured ham throughout Europe. Italian cuisine has the glorious prosciutto, France its jambon de Bayonne and Portugal has presunto ibérico.
The Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) has been obsessing over ham for over 2,000 years. The Spanish consume some 160,000 tonnes of it a year. As we traveled through Portugal, we found that ham was also a staple in most households. It is sliced in long, paper-thin slices and shared at most meals.
Curing Jamón Iberico starts with the humble pig. To produce Jamón Ibérico, this is no ordinary pig but the Iberian black-hooved variety, indigenous to the Iberian Peninsula. The Iberian pig differs in many things from the white pig. One of the main differences between these two breeds of pigs is that the Iberian pig has a very characteristic physiology, based on a thin skeleton, with very long and strong legs.
How that pig is fed, where it is raised, and how much free-range time it gets determines the quality of a Jamón Iberico, which can cost anywhere from a few to thousands of Euros per kilo.
In the southern town of Jabugo, Spain we took a tour of the Montesierra facility which holds thousands of hams and shoulders of pork. They hang in cold rooms to air dry from the rafters, all in the process of making it from farm to table. Some of the hanging hams are 4 or 5 years old.
We were schooled on the process of dry-curing a ham from start to finish. We also learned how the ‘paletas’ and ‘jamones’ are sorted and graded. Each was hung from a different colour rope to identify the quality of each piece.
Guide to Jamon Iberico
Categories of Jamon
In 2014, the Spanish government standardized the criteria for labeling to ensure quality control for Jamón Iberico. Three criteria measure the quality: (1) the breed of the pig, (2) what it was fed, and (3) where it was raised. Iberian pigs are smaller, black-hooved pigs whose pedigree can be sourced back to the breed. To qualify as an Iberian ham, the pig must have a minimum of 50% Iberian pig stock. The higher the percentage of Iberian stock, the greater the ham quality. On a side note, if the stock comes from a white pig, this is considered Jamon Serrano and not Jamón Iberico. That is a different kind of pig from a different region in Spain.
What the pig was fed determines the next criteria. There are now three categories, down from four: bellota (acorns), cebo del campo (natural grazing in grassland or pastures), or cebo (commercially produced fodder). Natural grazing includes other grains and herbs in addition to acorns. Fodder may consist of grains, herbs, and animal protein.
Iberian pigs are primarily fed acorns and grass. If the pig has been fed just commercial-produced fodder, they are at the lowest grade of ham. You will likely encounter this ham at a shop with ham and cheese sandwiches or local grocery stores. They are considered 50% Jamón Iberico . These hocks are hung with a white rope from the ceiling.
Where they live is also a criterion, including a specific region in Spain and the living environment. A free-range pig who can feed almost exclusively in the Dehesa (savannah-like open woodland) on oak acorns will be labeled as a premium grade. Those pigs living in commercial pig pens would provide less of a premium-grade ham.
Iberian Bellota Ham 75% or 50% Iberian breed
Jamón ibérico cebo de campo. If the ham hock is hanging from a green rope, it comes from pigs that have been fed fodder but are able to roam freely for a short period of time. The pig must have between 50-75% Iberico stock.
Acorn Ham 100% Iberian breed in designated DOP Jabugo Martín Hierro
The premium grade is jamón ibérico de bellota (acorn). It is also known as jamón ibérico de Montanera because it is fed during the Montanera season when acorns are abundant. If the jamón is hanging from a black rope, it is considered 100% Jamón Iberico, as these shoulders and ham hocks must be completely free range and eat only acorns and herbs, plus come from 100% Iberian pig stock. It must also come from designated locations in Spain (Jabugo in Huelva and Los Pedroches in Cordoba).
A simple guide to labels:
- Black, 100% Iberian, and acorn-fed. The very best “Pata Negra”
- Red, minimum 50% Iberian, acorn-fed
- Green, minimum 50% Iberian, “cebo de campo” (pasture and some acorns)
- White, minimum 50% Iberian, “cebo” (fodder)
Each region may have a different type of pig. Some are ancient breeds, and some have evolved to produce greater fat to provide the flavour that is so important in a Jamón Iberico. In one year, this warehouse slaughters more than 40,000 pigs but keeps only the ‘paletas’ and ‘jamones’. In the warehouse alone, you can have over 300,000 pieces in differing states of curing.
The process is painstaking and meticulous. The entire warehouse is clean and, surprisingly, does not smell very much. It was, however, slippery as the hams are rendered, and the fat falls to the ground. It is constantly cleaned, but hanging that many hams is inevitable. Here is a step-by-step explanation and guide to jamón ibérico.
Step One: salt
Once the paletas (shoulders) and jamones (hams) arrive, they are buried in salt and stacked eight feet high. How long they are cured in a salt bath depends on the weight of each piece but the rule of thumb is 1 kilo/day. The room is kept at a chilly 1-3 degrees Celsius.
Step Two: humidity hang
After the ham hocks and shoulders are dug out from the mound of salt they were buried in, they are hung from the ceiling in an adjacent cooling room with an 80% humidity. They are hung for 2-3 months, and in the process, they lose up to 60% of their weight from water and fat rendering.
Step Three: hanging and rotation
The next steps bring the ‘paletas’ and ‘jamones’ to a well-lit room where each piece is rotated for continued rendering. These rooms do not have any artificial temperature control. There is no air conditioning or heating. This part of Spain can be scorching in the summer and cool in the winter as the winds come off the Atlantic Ocean.
During the summer heat, the rooms are regulated by opening and closing windows. This is all manual work. However, the temperature is monitored digitally, so if the room gets too hot, an employee is alerted and must come in and open all the windows—even if it is in the middle of the night!
Step Four: quality assurance
These pieces will hang from the rafters for a minimum of two years, during which time they will be tested for quality assurance. Each ham is tested and has to be graded.
They must please all the senses, and the master manipulators (as I like to call them) will massage the ham or shoulder to feel the texture. How dry it is, how much fat has been rendered, etc. They look for specific coloring and the progress of natural fungus. Gross, I know, but trust me, you need it to protect the skin from mites and spoiling. Mankind has been curing meats for centuries, and this is all part of the natural process of preserving meat.
A shiv is used to poke the hams so that the testers can smell the progress. Remember, this is a piece of meat that is dry-cured (not cooked) by salt, air-drying, and time. These pieces will take anywhere from 2 to 5 years to reach their peak of flavour. All of these tests help them determine the state of the ham and whether it is ready for the market.
Step Five: retail selection
Every one of those three hundred thousand pieces of ham has a market. Whether it remains in Spain, Portugal, or any number of EU countries, these precious pieces of ham will be selected after the first few years of curing. Buyers come from all over the world to find out the pedigree of the pig stock, the grade, and the cut that they will hold on reserve for another 2—3 years. We saw rows and rows that were labeled for a buyer. They were buying not one or two but 10 or 15 of them. Each had a label and was being monitored daily by the staff.
Step Six: going home
These hams will be sold in markets and stores, as well as to restaurants, bars, and individual homes. The Montesierra facility has been curing hams for four generations.
Although some of the facilities have changed, the technique is fundamentally unchanged. You will notice a difference in northern Jamon Iberico, as the pigs are different breeds, and the earth, water, air, temperature, and nutrition are different.
Is it easy to say it is the best jamón ibérico in Spain? That is hard to say because of the complexities of all the factors involved in the process.
I know that I have a whole new appreciation for how jamón ibérico is made and know that this is not merely processed ham. In a sense, it is an art form in and of itself.
This is truly a national obsession. You won’t get a tapas without at least one, including a jamón ibérico and olives (another staple in these parts). You can find a ham and cheese sandwich for a few euros at your local bar or corner store for a quick meal. Do not miss out on this delicacy on your next visit to the Iberian Peninsula. Shop carefully because this guide to jamón Ibérico let you know how to choose the best dry-cured ham in the world!
Margarita Ibbott is a travel and lifestyle blogger. She blogs about travel in Canada, the United States and Europe giving practical advice through restaurant, hotel and attraction reviews. She writes for DownshiftingPRO.com and other online media outlets.
Spot on with this write-up, I seriously believe that this
website needs far more attention. I’ll probably be back again to
read through more, thanks for the advice!
Thank you so much for your comment. I always try to write so people will learn something new. I did not know a lot about Jamon Iberico and was amazed at how many varieties there are. I now know what questions to ask to get the best!