![\"ham-is-cured\"](\"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/ham-is-cured.jpg\")
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To quote our good friend Clemente G\u00f3mez, President of\u00a0AGACUJ<\/a>, \u201ca 10\/10 ham is a miracle\u201d. Because finding a ham that meets all our expectations without the tiniest fault is not easy. Even more so when this 10\/10 is subject to the saying that \u201cthere\u2019s no accounting for taste\u201d<\/strong>. The quantity of fat or salt in a ham might be correct for some palates and not for others. Even the topic we want to look at today is susceptible to personal appreciations, as what might be a juicy ham for some is not very well cured for others and what for some is a ripe ham, others find too dry.<\/p>\n Depending on the type of ham<\/strong>\u00a0that we are talking about, the quality of the raw material<\/strong>\u00a0we are working from,\u00a0and the type of processing<\/strong>\u00a0that we perform,\u00a0this requires a minimum curing time<\/strong>\u00a0so that we can talk about ham and not just salted meat. The final goal is simply to dehydrate the piece to preserve it although, depending on how this is done, we will get a final product with varying degrees of quality.<\/p>\n Beyond personal appreciations, there is one aspect that might be used to define a well-cured ham.<\/p>\n If there is one target parameter when evaluating ham curing, it is the uniformity of its curing<\/strong>. As we have already mentioned at some point, a leg is made up of a series of muscles that respond differently to the passing of time and dehydration. The ham\u2019s inner zones dry out more slowly than the muscles on the outside. The water has to move a greater distance, and this means that it is not easy to get the right texture in these zones without the outer part drying out too much. If this process is not developed correctly, there will be a clear curing difference between the ham\u2019s inner and outer zones. This phenomenon, that makes slicing difficult and affects the quality of the piece, is known as encrusting<\/strong>.<\/p>\n When a ham reaches its sales point, it has already passed through the filter that allows it to leave the drying spot. In our case, each piece that leaves our facilities has been selected according to the taste of each professional<\/strong> buying it who, in turn, is aware of the demands of their end customer. We like to say that we know each of our hams by name, meaning that we choose the type of ham (by weight, curing or quantity of fat) to suit the person requesting it. To do this, we select the pieces one by one, assessing their degree of curing manually. The usual way of evaluating a ham\u2019s curing, as well as by its processing time (that depends on the type of raw material) or its morphology, consists of pressing different zones with your fingers and checking the hardness or juiciness. Our experience in this work, along with help from a \u2018cala\u2019<\/a>, gives us a rough idea of each ham\u2019s degree of curing.<\/p>\nUniform curing<\/strong><\/h4>\n
So….how do you know when a ham is properly cured?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"cala-del-jamon\"](\"https:\/\/laestrelladeljamon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cala-del-jamon.jpg\")
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