It doesn’t matter your origin or origin, whether you are from Johannesburg, Paris or Beijing, because, if you try the 100% Iberian acorn-fed ham that the natural wineries around the Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche Natural Park treasure, you are lost. Or found, depending on how you look at it. What is certain is that you will feel that you are from Jabugo DOP through the magic of that thin slice that melts on your palate and releases a flavor so peculiar and exquisite that it will awaken in you pride and belonging to a place and a product. in which magic resurfaces every day.
This is the passion that unleashes one of the star products of Spanish gastronomy: Jabugo ham with Protected Designation of Origin (DOP). That is why the Soy de Jabugo DOP campaign appeals both to origin – among the different geographical locations in Spain – and to preference – among the different ham alternatives that exist on the market. Only those who try it feel it.
Jabugo is a municipality of Huelva in Andalusia, and, in addition, it is the name registered by the European Union that designates, protects and certifies the quality and origin of the hams and shoulders made in natural wineries in the towns around the Sierra Natural Park. from Aracena and Picos de Aroche, coming from 100% Iberian pigs raised and fattened in freedom in the pasture.
Specifically, this production or animal fattening area is delimited by the pastures of holm oaks, cork oaks and gall oaks of Badajoz and Cáceres in Extremadura and of Cádiz, Córdoba, Huelva, Málaga and Seville in Andalusia. For its part, the ham and shoulder production or curing area is framed by 31 municipalities—with their 72 population centers—in the surroundings of the Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche Natural Park.
In that privileged place in the world from which DOP Jabugo ham is born, the environment is respected, time is venerated, tradition is honored and the origin is protected. That place is Land of Cult, a name for a territory. A different and innovative way of doing things, from a gastronomic and tourist perspective, in the rural world. Many centuries ago this place was blessed by unique microclimatic conditions that modulate and shape the process of creating one of the most precious foods in world gastronomy.
Not just any designation is valid, only 100% Iberian acorn-fed quality. That is why hams and shoulders with PDO Jabugo have to achieve harmony in all their organoleptic qualities. As an aromatic richness, which is a consequence of three characteristics: racial purity, feeding during fattening exclusively with acorns and natural grasses free in the pasture, and a very slow curing in unique microclimatic conditions.
It is precisely at this time that the Montanera takes place, the last phase of breeding the Iberian pig, which consists of letting it graze in the pasture between oak and cork oak forests. The acorns, now ripe, have fallen. This time of year usually begins in late October or early November and lasts until mid-March. This way of eating turns DOP Jabugo ham into a delicacy without references, which does not allow comparisons, capable of generating unique sensations, never before experienced.
