“You do not have to be an expert to tell the difference”- The words of a Chef
This is no longer the case as males and females are castrated when they are 1 or 2 months old, much before they reach sexual maturity.
This may have been true before because sometimes some farmers did not castrate the young males destined for the "montanera" (bellota season) until they were 1 year old, with the aim of letting them develop larger bodies, giving the meat from the male pigs a more pronounced flavour and aroma due to the level of hormones
This is no longer the case as males and females are castrated when they are 1 or 2 months old, much before they reach sexual maturity.This may have been true before because sometimes some farmers did not castrate the young males destined for the "montanera" (bellota season) until they were 1 year old, with the aim of letting them develop larger bodies, giving the meat from the male pigs a more pronounced flavour and aroma due to the level of hormones
The opposite is often heard too and the legend is based on the fact that when the pig rests or sleeps it always lies on the same side, and the backham that is underneath is squashed by the weight of the animal's body. Less fat can be infiltrated so the backham from the opposite side is of better quality.
In our experience we have verified in many herds of animals that they lie down on their left or right sides indiscriminately, depending on how they find their "bed" or sleeping area more comfortable.
Curiously, we have never heard anyone speak of this difference for shouldershams, even though, according to this theory, the same would happen as with the backhams.
They are fed on pellets and cereals and during the "montanera" period (during which the animal reaches the desired weight) they are fed on acorns (from October to March).
This simply refers to the colour of the pig's trotters and is never any type of quality indicator, nor does it even mean the pig is of the Iberico breed. Actually, "pata negra" is a description that was explicitly prohibited by the Ministry of Agriculture due to its ambiguity until the last amendment of the quality standard for Iberico products, where the term is permitted for 100% Iberico animals, fed on acorns in the final stage of their life.
When cutting the backham we see that there are sometimes areas where white dots appear. Are they signs of poor quality or is there any problem? Nothing could be further from the truth: these small white traces are crystallisations formed by the degradation of a protein, a process that, if it indicates anything at all, shows that the animal was well fed during its life and that there has been optimum and lasting curing.
The pigs only have one montanera (bellota season) as this period is the final stage of fattening to gain the last arrobas (unit of weight equivalent to 11.502 kg) based on acorns and grass.
Perhaps the confusion lies in the fact that once that they have left the oak forest the pigs of the montanera destined for the abattoir, provided that the amount of fallen acorns allows it (from February to May), the pigs that will be the future bellota pigs are released to make use of the excess of fallen acorns. Nevertheless this process, if it occurs, does not improve the quality of the product.
That is not completely true. An bellota backham has an approximate curing time between 36 and 40 months. Depending on its weight, the curing location and the quality the fat, the curing may vary, but excessive curing will directly affect the texture and the organoleptic characteristics.
There is no definite amount, what is important is that it is completely covered with salt, with the right temperature and moisture for the necessary time, that is usually, as a general rule, 1 day per kilo of weight of the fresh product.
Impossible. It is only from 15th December to the end of March, coinciding with the slaughter of these pigs.
Logic dictates that the Iberico bellota pork should frozen so as to be available all year round.
Marques de Aracena nº 4, 21360, Jabugo, Huelva, (Spain)
Tel: (+34) 955 02 46 94
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