Know Your Jamón Ibérico

"Jamón Ibérico de Bellota is the highest level of quality and represents only about 10% of the total Jamón Ibérico production. It is particularly expensive to produce because during the three to four month fattening period, each pig is given at least an acre of its own on the wooded pasture known as the Dehesa. The most important feature of this classification is that during the months of fattening, these pigs eat nothing but the acorns that have fallen from the holm oak and cork oak trees that populate the dehesa. Within these months (known as the Montanera) a pig will put on between 40% - 60% of its final weight of about 350 lbs at slaughter which takes place traditionally in the first few weeks of January. Jamón Ibérico de Recebo is the second level of quality that comes from the pigs that have not fattened up sufficiently during the months of the Montanera. These pigs also ate acorns during that period, but once the acorns are gone, they are fed on a diet of barley, grains and grasses until they are slaughtered in the spring. [The third level of quality is Jamón Ibérico de Pienso.]

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