Holy Grail of Ham

The Dehesa is the real secret ingredient that makes Jamon Iberico special.

First, what is Jamon Iberico?

Perhaps you have heard gourmands talk of this ham. Excited tones certainly proceed its mention. The reverence given is immense. The Spanish consider Iberico at the apex of their culinary heritage. It is the offspring of hundreds of years of practice and tradition. The ingredients of Jamon Iberico are maddeningly simple (pork, salt and time) but the result is sublime. Aromatic, fatty, salty pork, so perfect that all it needs is itself and maybe some good sherry. 

About that secret ingredient…

Jamon Iberico is made the same way as almost every other cured ham on the planet. There is not some “secret recipe” that makes it a titan of food. It is all about the little piggies that make it possible. Jamon Iberico can only be made from Pata Negra, or black trotter, pigs. They live robust, free-ranging lives. They eat fragrant grasses and acorns and it is this diet that is instrumental in the unrivaled flavor of the final product. The land that the Pata Negra pig is raised on is called the Dehesa. The Dehesa is the real secret ingredient that makes Jamon Iberico special. Without it, the pigs could not roam, forage and feed. They would never be as well fed, or tasty as they need to be to make Jamon Iberico the powerhouse ham that it is.

We live in a world where so many cultures have taken a leg of pork, salted it, and hung it to cure in the pursuit of transcendently tasty food. It is a monumental achievement that Jamon Iberico is considered the greatest.