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Happiness is a Spanish 'jamon serrano'
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Dry-cured hams are a staple of the Spanish diet
No Spanish trip is complete without sampling Spain’s famous dry-cured hams.
Travelers see them hanging from hooks at bars or mounted on a jamonero for proper slicing.
A delicacy throughout Spain, jamón serrano is similar to Italian prosciutto, but anyone from Spain will tell you that the Spanish version is much better.
Not only do the hams add a Spanish touch to the ambiance of a crowded inn, the taste is succulent and hard to equal anywhere else (www.answers.com/topic/jam-n-serrano).
Spanish movie stars Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz have helped introduce the Spanish delicacy to the hip crowds in Los Angeles and New York. Banderas even opened a restaurant in his native Málaga, where he serves fine Spanish jam. (www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/mediterranean/2681203/Malaga-port-guide-restaurants-and-shops.html)
The Spanish love their ham. Spain is the No. 1 consumer of cured hams in the world, with the average Spaniard eating 5kg a year. Most households will typically have a leg of ham on the counter to serve up a few slices with each meal (www.jamon.com/serrano.html).
In Spain, they love their jamón so much there’s a chain of restaurants in Madrid called “Museo del Jamón,” (literally, Ham Museum) dedicated to selling, serving and creating the ideal ambiance for enjoying Spain’s finest hams (www.museodeljamon.es/).
Served thinly sliced straight off the bone, jamónes are an integral part of the Spanish diet. The ham can be served alone, with cheese or matched in a variety of recipes to create a new fusion of old-style cuisine with a modern flare (spanishfood.about.com/od/sausages/a/jamonintro.htm).
And the fine art of selecting a quality ham is taken just as judiciously as the most serious wine connoisseur. Much like wine, there’s even a denomination of origin to label high-quality hams from different regions.
Age, curing and what the pig ate are integral part in determining the taste and quality of Spain’s world-famous dry-cured hams.
The best hams are called íbericos, made from black pigs indigenous to Spain, with the best being fed acorns in an open range habitat. Imported legs can cost up to $200 per pound in the United States (jamoniberico.com/).
More typical – and cheaper at about $10 per kilo within Spain – is the jamón serrano taken from more common white pigs.
In what’s good news for ham lovers, the European Commission and the U.S. government have reached an agreement to lift potentially high tariffs on on-the-bone ham imports from Spain to the United States. That means Spanish hams, though still rather pricey when purchased in the U.S., will remain affordable (www.latimes.com/features/printedition/food/la-fo-jamon5mar05,1,735034.story).
To purchase imported hams direct from Spain: www.tienda.com/jamon/index.html
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