{"id":1026,"date":"2019-06-04T13:14:37","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T12:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/?p=1026"},"modified":"2019-06-19T12:00:21","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T11:00:21","slug":"the-price-of-ham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/en\/the-price-of-ham\/","title":{"rendered":"The price of ham"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The-price-of-ham\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\nMany\npeople consider ham to be an expensive product. Far from wanting to\nget into this type of valuation, in this week\u2019s post we are going\nto try to explain aspects that influence the the final price of ham\nand leave it up to you to decide whether its price reflects its true\nvalue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nNobody\ncan deny that there is a range of prices on the market that, in\nprinciple, correspond to a varied quality spectrum. From \u20ac5\/kg for\nsome cured hams to \u20ac75\/kg for some acorn-fed 100% Iberian hams, the\nprice range is so wide that it might be said that there is a ham to\nsuit every pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWithin\neach aspect we are going to cover (from breeding the pig right up to\nits drying facilities), we will attempt to differentiate between the\ndifferent qualities that are usually found on the Spanish market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nNot\nall pigs have the same production costs<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\nIt\ngoes without saying that when we talk about ham, we are talking about\nthe rear end of the pig. Spain is the main producer of this animal in\nthe EU, and it is reared in different ways and so at different costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe\nvast majority of pigmeat production takes place on intensive farms.\nPractically all white pigs, and pigs that provide fodder-fattened\nIberian ham (80% of hams labelled as Iberian according RD 4\/2014) are\nfarm-bred. Although both are fattened with fodder, differences arise\nin their production costs for a variety of reasons. The first is the\nage they are slaughtered. According to Iberian rules, the minimum age\nfor slaughter of \u201cpigs that give \u201ccompound-fed\u201d products is 10\nmonths and \u201cthe minimum individual weight of the carcass will be\n115 kg\u201d (108 for 100% Iberians that are exceptionally farm-bred).\nWhite pigs, not counting exceptions such as Teruel Ham (that\nregulates minimum warm carcass weight at 86 kg), do not have a\nminimum slaughter weight so its age will depend on the type of\ncarcass that you wish to get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, some pigs are slaughtered at barely 5 months old, although it is more usual to wait until 7 or 8 months.\u00a0This time difference\u00a0between the two types of pig,\u00a0already begins to make ham more expensive. On the other hand, Iberian pigs have greater prolificness as the female white pig has a considerably larger number of piglets per litter, making breeding more profitable. In addition, the conversion rate, meaning the efficacy with which the animal is capable of turning the food it eats into body mass, is greater in white pigs, which also lowers production costs. As we have already mentioned in this blog and we like to remind you, PDO Teruel Ham<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0comes under more restrictive regulations than other white ham quality standards, which increases its rearing costs because it requires greater fat thickness, achieved by more food and a later slaughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nA\nspecial mention should be given to Iberian pigs intended for\nacorn-fed hams (both 100% Iberian and 50 or 75% Iberian race). The\nextensive rearing method in meadows represents an enormous cost hike\ncompared to farm-fattening. The fact that the number of animals per\nhectare is<\/strong>\nlimited (varying each year depending on the the acorn production in\neach field), plus attaining the right weight often takes up to two\nyears (although the standard says a minimum of 14 months), all making\nbreeding this type of pig much more expensive than keeping pigs in\npens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nHam\nreference price: the markets<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\nTo\nmake good quality white ham, nobody in the sector is going to argue\nabout it needing to be fatty. Current trends aim to reduce fat\nconsumption, meaning that most pork production is devoted to getting\npigs with high lean yield (cheaper to feed as we saw before),\nalthough it is true that there is a section called \u201ccharcuterie\npigs\u201d with a greater thickness of fat. When buying fresh ham, most\nabattoirs base their price on what is set at the different markets.\nThese markets decide a price on a weekly basis depending on the type\nof pig and the offer and demand. Working from this, there are usually\nthree categories of ham: fine (or\nlean), semi-fatty and fatty. The fat thickness,\nmeasured at the tip of the ham, used by the abattoir to sell each\none, can vary but might be summarised as approximately less than 1 cm\nfor fine, 1 to 2 cm for semi-fatty and over 2 cm for fatty. Prices\ngo up in proportion to fat content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIn\nIberian ham, the markets also set at least a guideline price. In this\ncase, the price of the hams, based of course on the cost of rearing\nthe pig, is defined by two factors: the purity of the race and\nthe handling (form of rearing and feeding). Without going into\ndepth on the Iberian colours (something we will certainly cover in a\nfuture post), we might simply say that the price, from lowest to\nhighest, would be for white (compound-fed), green (dry-lot feeding),\nred (acorn-fed 50 or 75% Iberian race) and black seals (acorn-fed\n100% Iberian) respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nConcerning\nboth white pigs (PDO Teruel) and the four PDO for Iberians (Dehesa de\nExtremadura, Los Pedroches, Jabugo and Guijuelo), the prices of these\nhams are higher, completely justified by the greater quality\nrequirements for their raw materials and the additional cost required\nto control this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWeight\nloss: a product that progressively loses weight<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\nSo\nfar, we are already beginning to see price differences in the\ndifferent legs. It seems obvious that if it takes more time and money\nto rear one pig more than another, this will be reflected in the\nproducts made from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now let\u2019s look directly to ham\u2019s production costs. When a piece enters the industry, its fresh weight varies a great deal according to the manufacturer\u2019s demands, from 9.200 kg for a ham with no foot as required by the TSG Serrano Ham up to 15 kg in some drying facilities. In the case of \u00a0La estrella del jam\u00f3n<\/a>, we generally work with large raw material, between 12 and 15 kilos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAfter\nthe production process that, as mentioned previously, consists of\nfour phases (salting, post-salting or resting, drying and cellar),\nthe weight of each piece is going to be greatly reduced by the\nnatural dehydration process. This is what is known as weight loss and\nvaries according to the type of ham (lean ham loses more weight than\nfatty ham). In the case of white ham, the TSG Serrano Ham, the\nminimum weight loss required is 33%. This means that a ham that goes\ninto salting weighing 12 kg cannot be put on sale with this name\nuntil it has dropped down to a weight of 8.04 kg or less. The greater\nthe ham\u2019s weight loss, the higher the profit for the producer.\nAlthough Iberian ham undergoes less weight loss, its long curing\nprocess makes it stand out once again in price from white ham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nTime\nin the drying facility: financing<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\nHam\nis a product that, although processed, does not contain a large\nnumber of ingredients that make it more expensive, beyond salt or\nlard that do require a lot of work because each piece has to be hung\nand taken down several times to apply them. However, there is one\nfactor that probably adds the most price to the product: time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From when a ham goes into salting until it can be sold, a minimum of 7 months must pass in the case of cured ham up to 4 or 5 years for a 100% Iberian acorn-fed ham.
In the case of La estrella del jam\u00f3n, the least cured pieces go beyond 18 months, as far as 24 months approximately in our\u00a0PDO Teruel Ham Sierra Lind\u00f3n<\/a><\/strong>, 30 for Jam\u00f3n de Cebo 50% Iberian race Sierra Palomera or 36 at least for acorn-fed 50% Iberian race or 100% Iberian Sierra Palomera hams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBreeding,\nmarket, weight loss and financing are the four factors that justify\nthe price of ham in general, and which demonstrate the great economic\ndifferences between making one quality level or another. It is up to\nyou to weigh up if ham is an expensive product or, bearing in mind\nwhat we have said here, closer to its cost price and actually good\nvalue for money. However you feel about it, keep on enjoying this\nwonderful product that can adapt to all palates and pockets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many people consider ham to be an expensive product. Far from wanting to get into this type of valuation, in this week\u2019s post we are going to try to explain aspects that influence the the final price of ham and leave it up to you to decide whether its price reflects its true value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[161],"tags":[313],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1026"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1116,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1026\/revisions\/1116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}