"Olives on Legs"

I’m staying with the food theme for a little while longer, because this second Spanish specialty deserves attention.  If there’s another food that’s everywhere in Spain, it’s ham – jamon, in all its many forms.

There are various hams produced in Spain (over 40 million of them a year!), but foodies know that the Holy Grail of ham is the jamon iberico de bellota.   The ‘de bellota’ part is important.   Hams classied as iberico, made from the black iberico pig, are really good and limited to those produced in only 4 regions of the country (a DOC classification, like that for wine),  but the very best are allowed to graze the dehesa and fatten on ‘belotas’, the acorns produced by the holm oak in this traditional pastureland.

Not only does the acorn feast give the ham a wonderful sweet melt in the mouth flavor and texture, but those acorns are also full of oleic acid, the same found in olives, (hence the ‘olives with legs’ nickname given to the pigs) and means that this is, in fact, healthy ham and healthy fat.

 Jamon iberico de bellota doesn’t come cheap – our sampling in the local shop in Seville was 9 Euros for 100 grams (a nice serving for two),  twice that in a restraurant or bar, but worth every cent for a taste that really is what all the food fanatics claim it is – a sweet nutty melt-in-the-mouth delight.  It’s served in small paper-thin slices and needs no accompaniment, except a nice glass of Rioja.

Not that ordinaary ham (jamon iberico, not bellota, jamon serrano, just jamon) is bad in Spain, and there’s ample opportunity to taste it.   Lots of tapas consist of ham on bread, or the great universal ham and cheese sandwich.   Ham shops abound – there were three on our street in Seville, not counting the little supermarkets, and virtually every bar and café has at least a few hams hanging from the ceiling.  You can tell the iberico de bellota hams by the black hoof (pata negra).  

In Madrid, ham shops have wonderful names (the Palace of Ham, the Museum of Ham, the Parador of Ham, etc.)   And you need never be caught without – our local ham shop in Seville had an automatic dispenser so that you could even buy your ham after hours (not the bellota though – that was individually sliced from the ham when you ordered it.)

 

Of course jamon iberico was, until recently, one of those foreign products that the USDA was intent on protecting us from, and I still wouldn’t risk losing an expensive amount of it trying to come through customs, no matter what the Spanish deli owner tells you about vacuum packing.   However, in only the last few years, Spanish hams have become available through some specialty food importers.   A whole one costs about $900, and that’s without the professional stand that holds it in place and the sharp carving knife.