After the salting, washing and settling processes, the hams are ready to enter the drying facility.
As we mentioned in previous entries, ham is traditionally made after slaughtering the pig during the winter. When spring arrives, the temperature starts to rise gradually without any excessively sudden changes. The ham meat is still vulnerable to damage and would not withstand a sudden rise in temperature.
Our facilities can salt ham all year round, not just in the winter. Consequently, we have to ‘invent’ the spring so that hams leaving the post-salting phase are not exposed to scorching temperatures. We do this in two artificial drying facilities where the hams spend around three months before leaving for our natural drying spots, if the temperature there allows it. This process is more important for food safety than for curing the ham.
With a temperature between 8 and 10 ºC and relative humidity between 70 and 80%, the ham starts to grow mould, generally Penicillium, on the outside. This mould is partly responsible for curing the piece correctly. It helps maintain a degree of humidity on outside of the ham, preventing it from hardening ahead of time which would make it difficult to release the humidity from inside the leg that makes curing as uniform as possible.
This is the last part of the process where we can control the temperature and the humidity. Consequently, at La estrella del jamón, we give great importance to the appearance of this mould that will help us preserve humidity even in dry periods such as summer. Around 7 months after first putting the legs in salt, the ham will be sent off to the natural drying spot where it will be at the mercy of the outdoor weather until it has completed a total curing time that, in our case, is no less than 18 months.
