Jamón ibérico


Jamón Ibérico, "Iberian ham", is variety of Jamón, a type of cured ham produced in Spain and Portugal, where it may be labeled as presunto ibérico.

Description

Pork products made from Black Iberian breed pigs receive the ibérico/a denomination. As such, jamón ibérico is the dry-cured ham produced from livestock of said breeds.
According to Spain's denominación de origen rules and current regulations on Jamón, Jamón Ibérico must be made from pure breed, or cross-bred pigs - as long as they are at least 50% Black Iberian in their ancestry.
Jamón Ibérico, specially the one labeled as de bellota, has a smooth texture and rich, savory taste. The fat content is relatively high compared to jamón serrano. A good ibérico ham has regular flecks of intramuscular fat known as marbling.

Production

Location

The black Iberian pig lives primarily in the central and southwestern region of the Iberian Peninsula, which includes both Portugal and Spain. In Spain, the black Iberian pig is typically found in the provinces of Huelva, Córdoba, Cáceres, Badajoz, Salamanca, Ciudad Real, and Seville. In Portugal the central and southern regions have an abundance of this species, with a predilection for the Alentejo region. In Portugal, the black Iberian pig is commonly referred to as porco preto ibérico or porco alentejano. The black Iberian pig is ingrained in the local Portuguese culture and tradition, with annual festivals in their honor, such as the Feira do Porco Preto, an annual festival in the region of Ourique.

Process

Immediately after weaning, the piglets are fattened on barley and maize for several weeks. The pigs are then allowed to roam in pasture and oak groves to feed naturally on grass, herbs, acorns, chestnuts, and roots, until the slaughtering time approaches. At that point, the diet may be strictly limited to olives, chestnuts or acorns for the best quality jamón ibérico, or may be a mix of acorns and commercial feed for lesser qualities.
The hams from the slaughtered pigs are salted and left to begin drying for two weeks, after which they are rinsed and left to dry for another four to six weeks. The curing process then takes at least twelve months, although some producers cure their jamones ibéricos for up to 48 months.

Preservation and storage

Cured meats have been specifically produced to be edible for a long time. The curing process was used for generations to preserve pork before the invention of refrigeration. During the curing process the meat is dried in salt, which helps to prevent the build up of harmful organisms, and then is hung to be exposed to the elements, producing an exterior layer of mold which helps to protect the meat inside.
Normally, jamón is sold either sliced and vacuum-packed or as a whole leg. Vacuum-packed jamón may last up to 100 days at room temperature because the packaging seals out oxygen and slows the aging process. A whole leg does not last as long. If the jamón is regularly cut and covered with clingfilm or cheese cloth, an opened leg may last for three months.
Freezing is not recommended, since it damages the fibers in jamón and alters flavours.

Commercial grading and labeling

The hams are labeled according to the pigs' diet and the percentage of the pigs' Iberian ancestry, with an acorn diet and pure-bred Iberians being most desirable. The current labeling system, based on a series of color-coded labels, was phased in starting in January 2014.
Some notes:

Pata Negra

Meaning literally black leg, pata negra is a commercial label for jamón ibérico. In coloquial Spanish and popular culture, it is used as a superlative or synonym of the best.
It referred to the color of the pigs' hoof, which are white or fair-colored in most traditional and commercial pork breeds in Spain, but always black in the Black Iberian breed.
The term used to be liberally applied in both Spanish and Portuguese, leading to quality and markets disputes, since the term was used interchangeably both as great quality jamón and ibérico jamón. Along reputable pata negra producers, there were plenty of doubtful producers using the term in their labeling.
Jamón has also been sold unlabeled in small towns and unpretentious establishments all around rural Spain. While as a general rule, a black hoof should indicate an Ibérico ham, the ancestry could be exceedingly cross-bred or untraceable, and also there were cases of ham sourced from rare breeds with dark hoofs, and even manually darkened hoofs.
Modern regulations only allow the use of the wording pata negra for black label jamón sourced from acorn-fed pure-bred Black Iberian pork. is completely dedicated to the Jamón production.

Notable producers and protected designations

Notable producers of Ibérico are recognized by both the regulatory bodies of Spain, and the European Union. Their designations are legally protected. Some of them include:
Ibérico encompasses some of the most expensive ham produced in the world, and its fatty marbled texture has made it very popular as a delicacy, with a hard to fulfill global demand comparable to that of Kobe beef.
Around 13,000 metric tons of jamón ibérico and associated by-products were consumed in Spain in 2017, leading to an estimated 4 billion euro in retail sales. The demand keeps growing while the availability is stagnated, as the production is maxing out to ensure quality. This is leading to a rise in the price of jamón ibérico, which is expected to double up between 2017 and 2021.
Since jamón ibérico production and export is limited, buyer should beware and not fall victim of retail or wholesale bait-and-switch or fraud similar to that in olive oil export fraud, since it has been estimated that a sizable portion of both local market and exports are not actually ibérico.

Availability in the United States

Prior to 2005, only pork raised and slaughtered outside Spain was allowed to be processed in Spain for export to the United States of America, due to fear of swine fever. In 2005, the first slaughterhouse in Spain was approved by the US Department of Agriculture to produce ibérico by-products for export to the United States.
The first jamones ibéricos were released for sale in the United States in December 2007, with the bellota ones following in July 2008.