There are plenty of delicious regional specialties from across Spain and Portugal, but perhaps none is as famous as jamón ibérico. Though it looks similar to jamón serrano, a popular, mass-produced dry-cured ham commonly featured in tapas, there are several important differences that make jamón ibérico one of the world’s most expensive meats, with a leg costing $1,000 or more for the best quality.
Unlike other types of dry-cured ham, jamón ibérico comes from a very specific breed of domestic pig: the black Iberian pig, native to western and southwestern Spain and southern and central parts of Portugal. Yet there’s much more to jamón ibérico than just a specific breed—one of the biggest reasons this meat is such a delicacy has to do with the pigs’ diet and lifestyle.
The most prized jamón ibérico is known as jamón ibérico de bellota, which refers to the pigs’ favorite food: acorns. If you’re willing to pay enough for it, your jamón will come from free-range pigs that have spent their days foraging on hilly woodland fields known as dehesas, which are home to oak and cork trees. This involves roaming several miles across the dehesas every day, which gives their legs a muscled appearance. Aficionados will gladly explain how this unique, high-fat diet affects the flavor and texture of the meat, giving it a slightly sweet and nutty taste, rich in healthy oleic acid, with a distinct marbled appearance due to the high content of intramuscular fat.
Not your average ham:
- Since 2014, jamón ibérico produced in Spain has been divided into four categories, with significant differences in price. The highest classification is “black label,” also known as pata negra, which is awarded to only a small proportion (roughly 6%) of all ibérico ham. To receive the black label designation, the pigs must be 100% pure-bred Iberian and allowed to roam freely and munch on acorns throughout their lifetimes.
- Supporting free-ranging Ibérico pigs is no small task, which explains the extremely high cost of black label jamón ibérico. Only two pigs are permitted to occupy one hectare of dehesa. In addition to acorns, the pigs also graze on nuts, olives, and berries.
- Red label jamón ibérico also comes from pigs that have been allowed to forage yet are not purebred Iberian pigs. Green label jamón ibérico comes from pigs that are at least 50% Iberian and have been fed grain as well as grazing in the wild, while the lowest grade, white label, comes from part-Iberian pigs that eat mainly grain and may not be free range.
- To cure the meat, legs of jamón ibérico are covered in salt for up to 20 days, then hung in a cool, humid room, followed by a well-ventilated one, and eventually in a cellar, a process that usually takes at least two years, though sometimes much longer.
