Iberian jamón is Damon's new absolutely favorite food. At 62 euros per kilogram, this is no cheap hobby. Spanish Iberian Jamón is considered the 4th worldwide delicacy after caviar, French champagne, and Foie gras. The farm we visited is in Corteconception, Huelva which is about 3 hours from Rota. The town has a small population of 600. The farm is very spacious with having one pig per one hectare and they feed on bellotas (acorns) from the hold oak and cork trees. The cork bark is also harvested every 10 years and is used for wine corks and even for a type of spray home insulation. The pigs have a pretty good life of roaming and eating thus making the tasty mono-unsaturated fat marbling in the meat. The pigs are processed after they are about 2 years old. After slaughter, the meat pieces are brought back to the factory for the jamón magic. Step 1 is the seasoning. The leg and shoulder get thickly salted and the chiorzo (like a sausage) gets a thick coating of paprika. All of the rubs are applied by hand. Then they are left to sit for about 10 days total and ultimately hung to air dry for several years to cure. A high quality jamón will sell for around 500 euros each. To eat, the leg is sliced very thin, much like Italian prosciutto and eaten straight. It is delicious. Our tour was given by the grandson (perhaps the great-grandson) who also sliced the jamón pieces for us by hand and even poured all the drinks. A very cool family business. It is wonderful to see a family business being so successful and passionate.
Jamones = ham
Bellota = acorn
The whole factory.
Cork tree, the bark was just harvested in July and is only done so every 10 years.
Pigs eating the bellotas (acorns). The pigs are on a 1 pig per 1 hectare of land.
These pigs are only 1 year old and will meet their Jamon-maker in about another year. During the prime acorn season they pack 1 kilogram per day.
We got some amazing outfits to go into the factory. Behind me are some pieces of cork bark.
Step 1 - salting for 10 days
Step 2 - drying for a long time in temperature and humidity controlled rooms
Step 3 - hanging out in the open-air rooms for several years getting the perfect layer of 'growth'
This is one of the other rooms that the Jamon can dry in.
The tasting room with all sorts of cool stuff
This is the grandson of the original farmers who gave us the full tour and then cut the Jamon for us to taste and even was pouring all the drinks. A very cool family business.
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