Free-range grain-fed shoulder ham 100% Iberian with PDO Los Pedroches (green flange)

IDENTIFICATION OF PARTS ACCORDING TO THE FLANGE The ham can be quickly identified by the label on its hoof. There are four colors:

•       Black Flange: for the 100% Iberian acorn-fed ham: The black label on the ham indicates that it is a 100% Iberian breed and that in the fattening months it has been fed acorn and grass in a free-range dehesa pasture. Their parents will be 100% Iberian and must be registered in the Stud Book of the Iberian pig breed.
•        Red Flange: for the Iberian acorn-fed ham: These are hams that come from pigs that are between 50 and 75% Iberian breed and that in the fattening months have been fed acorn and grass in a free-range dehesa pasture.
•        Green Flange: for the Iberian free-range grain-fed ham: they are hams that come from specimens with between 50 and 100% Iberian breed, however, they have not been fed with acorn in the dehesa pasture, only with feed and natural resources in the wild.
•        White Flange: for the Iberian grain-fed ham: they also come from Iberian specimens, with a percentage between 50 and 100%, however, they have not been raised in the field. They have been fed on farm feed.

PROTECTED DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN (DOP) They constitute the system used in our country for the recognition of a differentiated quality, a consequence of its own and differential characteristics, due to the geographical environment in which the raw materials are produced, the products are manufactured, and the influence of the human factor that participates in them. The producer who benefits from a D.O.P. is committed to following the defined norms to maintain quality at high standards. In addition, there must be a public body that regulates it and monitors compliance with the rules. And in the case of Spanish PDOs, they are protected by European regulations. What are PDOs used for? To the consumer, fundamentally to guarantee specific characteristics and a high and constant level of quality. And for the manufacturer, it protects them from the production of similar products in other areas and helps them reach new markets, protected by the quality of the PDO. How is Iberian pig breeding? Our 100% Iberian breed pigs are born in the countryside, they are breastfed by their mothers until they are old enough to fend for themselves and begin to feed on dehesa pasture resources. Those piglets that are born in autumn will be able to enjoy their first acorns during this weaning phase, although most of these will be reserved for their older siblings, who were born a year earlier and arrive at the montanera season in their fattening phase, going from 90-100 kg of weight to 170-180kg solely based on acorn, grass and other natural resources of the dehesa pasture (mushrooms, roots, tubers,…). What do pigs feed before the fattening phase? They feed on the resources of the dehesa pasture, however, in the summer season when resources are fewer, they usually feed on natural feed composed mainly of cereals and legumes. The society's farmers plant these cereals and legumes (chickpeas, beans, vetch, oats, etc.) so that when summer comes the pigs feed on them. ad libitum, that is, to the tooth in the same land, without needing to harvest them. Temperature, humidity and ripening time of hams and shoulder hams. The production process of our hams and shoulder hams has several phases. The first of them, salting, is done at a very low temperature and high humidity. This phase lasts around 2 weeks depending on the weight of the piece and subsequently, after settling in chambers with controlled temperature and humidity, they will go to natural cellars, where the temperature will range between 18-20 degrees in the summer to 10-12 degrees in the winter, a slow curing that ensures a long and optimal maturation, greater than 30 months, managing to awaken aromas that an accelerated process would never obtain.