Jamon Iberico

Jamón ibérico is a type of jamón, a cured ham produced only in Spain. It is at least 75% Black Iberian Pig, also called the cerdo negro or black pig, the only breed of pig that naturally seeks and eats mainly acorns: according to Spain's Denominación de Origen rules on food products jamón ibérico may be made from cross-bred pigs as long as they are at least 75% ibérico.

The Black Iberian Pig lives primarily in the south and southwest parts of Spain, including the provinces of Salamanca, Ciudad Real, Cáceres, Badajoz, Seville, Córdoba and Huelva. 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, and roots, until the slaughtering time approaches. At that point the diet may be strictly limited to acorns for the best quality jamón ibérico, or may be a mix of acorns and commercial feed for lesser qualities. This is described in more detail below.

Classification

The hams are labeled according to the pigs' diet, with an acorn diet being most desirable:

·       The finest jamón ibérico is called jamón ibérico de bellota (acorn). This ham is from free-range pigs that roam oak forests (called la dehesa) along the southern border between Spain and Portugal, and eat only acorns during this last period. It is also known as Jamón Iberico de Montanera.The exercise and the diet has a significant impact on the flavor of the meat; the ham is cured for 36 months

·       The next grade of jamón ibérico is called jamón ibérico de recebo. This ham is from pigs that are pastured and fed a combination of acorns and grain.

·       The third type of jamón ibérico is called jamón ibérico de pienso, or simply, jamón ibérico. This ham is from pigs that are fed only grain. The ham is cured for 24 months.

The term pata negra is also used to refer to jamón ibérico in general and may refer to any one of the above three types.

Bellota jamones are prized both for their smooth texture and rich savory taste. A good ibérico ham has regular flecks of intramuscular fat. Because of the pig's diet of acorns, much of the jamón's fat is comprised of oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid that has been shown to lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol.

Until recently, jamón ibérico was not available in the U.S. In 2005 the first producer in Spain was approved by the U.S.D.A. to export ibérico ham products to the U.S. The first jamóns ibéricos were released for sale in the United States in December, 2007, with the bellota hams due to follow in July 2008. Jamón ibérico, which only accounts for about 5% of Spain's cured-ham production, is very expensive and not widely available abroad.

Curing

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 nine months, although some producers cure their jamones ibéricos for over two years.

The ibérico hams from the town of Guijuelo in the Salamanca province are renowned for their consistently high quality. Practically the entire town is devoted to the production of Jamón Ibérico and Iberico cured meats as "Lomo", "Salchichon" and "Chorizo".

Jamon Iberico in a Healthy Diet

 From the dawn of civilization, man has been aware that food provides not only immediate sustenance for life, but also it has good properties for maintaining healthy life. Thus, in classic Greece meat was the main protein, and Hippocratic philosophers considered that “pork gave the body more strength than other meats”.

This idea was passed on to other Western cultures. It arose because the pig was the only animal domesticated for its meat, and in this sense people believed that the environment and the life situation of the animal were essential for the nutritional quality of the pork.

This concept is still accepted today. Nowadays people are convinced that the system of handling, breeding and raising the pig directly influences the quality of its meat. For centuries people have known that the meat from animals grazing in the forests and fields and getting exercise in the open air, is more appetizing than meat from animals produced intensively in captivity. In sum, the animal’s well-being has direct repercussions on the taste of its meat.

The general dietetic concept of meat, and particularly pork, has remained practically the same from Greek and Roman times to the late nineteenth century – a time when cook books and home economics manuals began to consider meat in a modern context. In the middle of the nineteenth century, these authors had introduced criteria that evaluated the quality of meat, the proportion that is fat, and its nutritional value. This nutritional emphasis continued for a good portion of the 20th century.

However, during the second half of the 20th century, new factors came to the forefront. In terms of cardiovascular health, there is a greater appreciation of cultural factors, the Mediterranean diet, and specifically the meat of the Iberian pigs. The fact that in today’s world some 40.5% of deaths are due to heart disease has increased interest in this area. It can be said that cardiopathology increases in an opulent society.

With this piqued interest in diets that lead to healthy hearts, pork from Iberian pigs, and therefore Jamón Ibérico, has attracted great interest because of a unique factor in its composition that makes it quite different from ordinary white pork.

The important factor of all ham, whether produced from white or Iberian pigs, is its intramuscular fat, which is different to the one on the surface. Intramuscular fat directly influences the texture, palate and aroma of the ham.

This fat located among the muscle fibers in jamón ibérico is of bromatologic, culinary and gastronomic importance and contributes to the juiciness of the meat and its digestibility, both in the mouth and in the stomach, when consumed.

Jamón Ibérico contains a high percentage of oleic acid (which is why it is sometimes called “a four-legged olive tree”) and, in contrast, the levels of saturated fatty acids are low. It is just the opposite of white pork. Jamón´s intramuscular fat has a low percentage of saturated fat and cholesterol, and this is why it is a food that can and must be present in heart healthy diets.

Regarding other Iberian pig products, such as chorizo, salchichón, lomo (loin) and paleta (shoulder) they all have the same properties as does the jamón. Therefore, the Iberian pig, due to (a) its zootechnical behavior, living in the free-range Spanish pastures, (b) its unique genetics of being an animal with a high percentage of non-saturated fatty acids and (c) the method used to cure its products, particularly jamón, makes it a food that enjoys very favorable dietetic qualities.

Bellota iberico lomo Dry-cured Iberico de Bellota (Acorn) pork loin

In the dehesas, an indigenous forest of southwestern Spain, the Ibérico pig, a descendent of the wild boar, still wanders free. Popularly known as the Pata Negra or Black Hoof, the Ibérico de Bellota feed exclusively on fallen acorns, known as bellota,for three months prior to slaughter. The resulting meat is swirled with high levels of flavorful natural fats, for which this pig has gained international notoriety.

The loin of the Ibérico pig is one of the most rare and appreciated in the world of cold meats. The preparation process involves the entire loin, which is meticulously cleaned, and the fat removed.

The loin is then marinated with salt, pimenton and other spices. Afterwards, it is made into a sausage using natural casings and cured in drying sheds for three to four months.

Once cured, it is pale red in color on the outside, bright red on the inside and, when cut, has a marble-like appearance as a result of the infiltration of fat from the acorn. The meat melts in the mouth, releasing a delicate flavor and a pleasant aroma that is uniquely Iberian.

Chorizo and Spanish Sausages

   Every household in Spain has at least one or two of the hundreds of varieties of delicious chorizo sausages. Spanish chorizo-type products, often referred to as embutidos, come in many varieties, thick and thin, plain or smoked, some containing lean meat to be served for tapas, or with more fat to flavor stews and grilled dishes.

Spanish chorizo is made basically with pork, sweet paprika and garlic, and is cured either to a hard sausage consistency, to be sliced and eaten as an appetizer, or to a softer consistency to use in cooking.

Many of the chorizos are deep red in color because they contain pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika). Not only does pimenton lend color and seasoning, but its oils make the chorizo last longer without refrigeration. Remember, until recently, refrigeration was not generally available.

Depending on the use of the finished product, lean and fat pork is chopped up in varying proportions. Garlic, salt, herbs and other seasonings are then added, perhaps with a little white wine to speed the natural fermentation process. It then rests for two days. This curing gives chorizo its typical slightly acidic taste. The cured and seasoned meat is stuffed into skins using a sausage machine. Finally, they are then tied and hung up to dry. In the wetter climate of northern Spain, they are sometimes pre-smoked for further preservation.

Other related 'embutidos' are salchichón and lomo embuchado. The lomo is an air-dried loin of pork. All the fat is removed from the meat, and then it is marinated in a mixture of seasonings similar to the chorizo. The marinated loin is stuffed in a beef skin and is slightly smoked, or else it is air-dried for three to four months so that it will retain its tenderness. Together with jamón serrano it is the highest expression of the Spanish butcher's art.

The Salchichon is similar to the Italian salami. It differs from most chorizos in that it contains no paprika, but does have cracked black pepper. The salchichon from Catalonia contains wine for added flavour.

About Spanish Smoked Paprika - Pimenton

Everyone knows that Columbus carried chile peppers to Spain from the New World on his second voyage in 1493, but who first used the pods for flavoring food? José Guerra, writing in "Foods from Spain News," speculates that monks at the Monastery of Guadalupe in Extremadura were the first Europeans to discover the flavor–and heat–of chiles by crushing them and adding them to their soups. This theory agrees with that of food historians, who believe that chiles initially were grown in monasteries and the seeds were spread throughout Spain and Europe first by traveling monks and then by Spanish and Portuguese traders, who introduced them into Africa, India, and Asia. Within a hundred years after Columbus brought them to Spain, chile peppers had circumnavigated the globe and spiced up numerous regional cuisines.

But what happened to the chiles in Spain? Why didn’t the cuisine of Spain become fired up like that of India, or even Hungary? No one knows for certain. As in Italy, there are a few hot and spicy dishes in Spain, but chiles did not dominate the cuisine–except in one part of Extremadura in the far west, the same region where they were first introduced. That hotbed of chiles is the valley of La Vera, where the pimientos (chiles) are grown and smoked to make the famous spice pimentón de la Vera.

Some sources speculate that the pimentón tradition in La Vera was started by another group of monks from the Yuste Monastery in Caceres in the sixteenth century. According to Janet Mendel, author of Traditional Spanish Cooking, when the Spanish emperor Charles V abdicated the throne of Spain in 1555 and retired to the Yuste monastery, he loved pimentón immensely. He recommended it to his sister, Queen Mary of Hungary, and that is how paprika became popular in that country. (Other sources give credit to the Turks for introducing chiles into Hungary at a later date.)

The Yuste monks, over the centuries, shared their secrets of growing and processing the chiles with local farmers. But it wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that the farmers began growing their pimientos on a large scale and processing them into pimentón. These days, pimentón is the region’s main source of income.

Growing and Smoking the Pimientos

In early March, farmers germinate the seeds and grow seedlings in greenhouses. They are transplanted to the fields in May. Some of the fields are so remote that they are not accessible to tractors and other farm equipment, so farmers use mule labor to prepare the fields, and ride mules to the fields to remove weeds by hand. In all the fields, the crop is picked by hand in October when all the pods are bright red but still pliable. In eastern Spain, where it is drier, the pods can be dried in the sun. But in Extremadura, fall rains raise the humidity to the level where the pods would rot or mold. So in the La Vera valley, they are placed in burlap sacks and then loaded on flatbed trucks that haul them to the drying buildings.


   The pimientos are slowly dried over smoldering pedunculate or holm oak logs for ten to fifteen days and are hand-turned twenty-four hours a day before they are ready to be processed into pimentón. The smoke-dried pods are then ground into powder (the pimentón) and packed in bulk containers. The majority of the pimentón goes to the sausage factories, where it is used to spice up, flavor, and brighten up the famous Spanish chorizo. But it is also packed in tins for the consumer market. There are three varieties of pimentón--sweet (dulce), hot (picante), and bittersweet (agridulce).

Pimentón de la Vera was the first chile pepper product to be granted a Denominacíon de Origen, or controlled name status. Controlled name status means that other varieties of pimientos cannot be called pimentón, and that consumers are guaranteed that the product is made in the same, time-honored manner. Look for the letters "D.O." on any product labeled as pimentón.

Culinary Uses

 Sweet pimentón is great for flavoring potatoes, rice, and fish recipes, while the traditional bittersweet, smoky variety is used as a flavoring for smoked meats and in beans, game dishes, and stews. The hot type is used in winter soups, chorizo, and Galician pulpo, or octopus. The octopus is boiled and sliced, then sprinkled with olive oil, salt, and hot pimentón powder. Interestingly, there are recipes for chorizo and potato stews that utilize all three of the types of pimentón. Substitutions for pimentón include hot paprika and New Mexican ground red chile, but for a better approximation of the smokiness of the pimentón, mix in some ground chipotle chile.

Conversely, hot pimentón can be substituted for any recipe calling for paprika or ground red chile. Chili con carne enthusiasts should experiment with pimentón in their never-ending quest to improve their chili.