Ham anyone? - Spain's Extremadura region is the place to go

By Manuel Meyer Sep 28, 2010, 9:22 GMT

Jerez de los Caballeros, Spain - Alejo Perez Carasco is proud of his homeland. With a nostalgic expression, as if he were not able to enjoy the view each and every day, he scans the sweeping, hilly landscape of the Extremadura region.

A sea of rocks, mountains and cork oak trees extends all the way to the horizon. In between lies a city - Jerez de los Caballeros.

The small city is a genuine jewel. Several magnificent churches from the 16th century rise above the labyrinth of white houses and narrow alleys. The powerful and richly ornamented steeple of the San Bartoleme Church can already be seen from a distance.

No less resplendent is the Knight Templars' castle from the 13th century. Everywhere a visitor looks, there is history on view.

Jerez de los Cabelleros was home to many Spanish conquistadores. Hernan de Soto, who conquered what today are Panama and Nicaragua, who discovered Florida and the Mississippi River, came from here, as did Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.

The city's true treasure however is found in a storage hall atop a small heights - the 'jamon iberico de bellota' - Iberia's hams. This is the main reason why tourists from both Spain and abroad travel to the Extremadura.

The entire region in south-western Spain and close to the border with Portugal is famous for its ham. For gourmets, the names Zafra, Fuente de Cantos, Cabeza la Vaca, Segura de Leon, Higuera la Real and Oliva de la Frontera are well known.

But the cradle of Iberian ham is found in Jerez de los Caballeros.

A few years back, the villages established a 'ham trail' for visitors to follow. Carasco says 'Since then, I even get orders from Germany.' Since 1887 his family has made its livelihood from pig-raising and ham production. His 'Jierrito Alejo' is famous throughout Spain.

But what is it that makes the ham from this region so extraordinary? Carasco says that it's all about how the pigs are kept, in a region 700 metres above sea level, with a microclimate of hot summers and cold, but dry, winters. It's also about the curing process of the hams.

For two to three years hundreds of the meat chunks are hung to dry from the ceiling of Carasco's drying house, with breezes blowing about them. Inside, the air is a mixture of scents - of grass, ham, mould, fat and herbs.

During the curing process the fat slowly drips out of the ham. The fat is chiefly the product of the acorns which the pigs are fed. In the drying process, the ham loses nearly one-third of its weight - and then it starts to mould. For the mould cultures also contribute to the incomparable taste of the ham.

But the secret can also be seen in full view outside the drying house. 'Just look out the window,' Carasco says. 'Back there is where my pigs live, roaming freely among the oak groves. They are moving around all day long.'

After the nursing period with the mother's milk is over, the long-legged pigs with their sharp snouts and dark bristles are chiefly fed grains, while they also can go grazing in the fields and pastures to feast on various roots, tubers, grass and herbs.

Between November and January their diet then chiefly consists of the acorns.

'They'll eat up to ten kilograms of acorns a day,' says pig farmer Jose Antonio Macias Sanchez. In the process, the pigs gain up to one kilogram in weight per day.

Such extensive methods naturally come with a price: 100 grams of ham cost between 15 and 30 euros (19-38 dollars). And it's a reason why the Extremenos gladly dub their ham 'black gold.'

Visitors can learn the fine points about the local hams in bodegas, restaurants and the producers themselves.

In the romantic, white-washed villages such as Fregenal de la Sierra, with its bullfighting arena located in the interior courtyard of the town castle, producers explain how the pigs are raised and give cooking tips - and of course a few samples to taste.

And in Zafra with its white-washed churches, monasteries and shaded lanes the visitor is followed every step of the way by the 'black gold.' Along with the scents of jasmine and olive tree blossoms, the smell of ham lies permanently in the air.

Lessons in how to properly cut the ham are also offered.

'The slices must be cut extremely thin, whereby the cut line should if at all possible be kept horizontal,' explains Paco Garcia Pagador, a master ham producer in the town of Feute de Cantos, near Zafra. With a long knife he cuts off small slices from the haunch which is held firmly in a metal-and-wood frame construction called a 'Jamonera.'

The juicy pieces are cut so thinly that you can see through them. Gleaming bright-red and with a thin edge of fat, the slices lie on the plate. = The ham is best sliced 20 minutes before serving so that it can still aerate. This is when it best develops its mouth-watering scent.