{"id":1983,"date":"2020-11-09T14:06:58","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T13:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/?p=1983"},"modified":"2021-03-03T13:06:43","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T12:06:43","slug":"ham-myths-iberian-ham-and-pata-negra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/en\/ham-myths-iberian-ham-and-pata-negra\/","title":{"rendered":"Ham myths: Iberian ham and Pata Negra"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although most people in Spain consider ham to be a symbol of our\ncuisine, and despite the fact that many of us have grown up with a leg of ham\nin the larder (and some of us grew up with hundreds of them…), we are talking\nabout a product that is surrounded by many myths that have spread throughout\nour popular culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using this blog, we want to dispel a few of these myths in an\nattempt to improve general knowledge on this wonderful product and clarify a\nfew issues when it comes to picking one ham over another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start this myths section by looking at one of the most\npopular beliefs that causes great confusion among consumers: any ham with a\nblack hoof is Iberian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll about the pata negra….\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

For a long time, the \u201cpata negra\u201d (black hoof) was associated\nwith what we now call acorn-fed 100% Iberian ham (bearing the black seal\naccording to the current Iberian standard). This means that, according to\npopular culture, all ham that had a black hoof came from an Iberian pig that\nwas fed exclusively on acorns (we dispelled this myth in another post). So,\nmany people asked for ham when they saw the black hoof without realising that\nthey were having the wool pulled over their eyes or, in this case, getting\ncrossed pigs or white pig directly presented as Iberian pig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

100% Duroc and Crossed Iberian<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As we have mentioned on other occasions, all that glitters is\nnot \u201cblack gold\u201d. The Duroc<\/strong><\/a> pigs share\nthis peculiarity with their distant cousins, the Iberians. This race,\noriginating from the United States, emerged from crossing different races,\npossibly with Iberian pigs from a very dark-coloured lineage. Perhaps for that\nreason, or perhaps not, it so happens that 100% Duroc pigs have a black hoof.\nSo, if we consider that most of the ham that we see labelled as Iberian comes\nfrom pigs crossed between an Iberian mother and a Duroc father, they probably\nall have a black hoof. And we say probably because, as you can see in the photo\nin this entry, some Iberian hams present total or partial depigmentation on\ntheir hooves. This is the case of lineages such as Torbiscal, Manchado de\nJabugo or the Rubio Dorado line recently recovered by Dehesa de los Monteros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mangalica, the Hungarian \u201csheep\u201d pig<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Mangalica is another example of spotting what might not be\nan Iberian pig when we see a black hoof. This Hungarian race, from the central\nMediterranean area, just like the Iberian, was about to become extinct in the\nlate 20th century. However, amazing work by Juan Vicente Olmos, Director\nGeneral of the Montenevado Group, led him to recover this woolly animal in his\nsearch for fatty ham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pata negra; black seal<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Although we are talking about high quality hams, that give us\nsome fabulous pieces, we cannot legally call the Duroc, the Mangalica or the\ncrossed Iberian \u201cpata negra\u201d. Only acorn-fed 100% Iberian ham can be given this\ncommercial name according to the standard in force, regulated by RD 4\/2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To sum up, although almost all Iberian hams have a black hoof,\nnot all black-hoofed hams are Iberian. Look out for the seals corresponding to\nthe standard, the PDO and the commercial names. Although, in our opinion, all\nham is good by definition, we should stay well informed to be able to choose\neach type depending on our needs and our tastes, making use of all the\ninformation available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although most people in Spain consider ham to be a symbol of our cuisine, and despite the fact that many of us have grown up with a leg of ham in the larder (and some of us grew up with hundreds of them…), we are talking about a product that is surrounded by many myths […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[341],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983"}],"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=1983"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1985,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983\/revisions\/1985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.es\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}