What is a ham?

If we say Jamón/ham, we mean Spain or the Iberian Peninsula; hence the word "Iberian" which makes this product unique and inimitable. If it is Iberian Jamón /ham, it could only have been made in the Iberian Peninsula.

When we speak of Jamón/ham we refer to the result obtained after curing the hind leg of a pig in salt. Depending on whether the pig is non-Iberian or Iberian and the feeding it has received, the months of curing can vary, being 18 months for the Gran Reserva ham, 24 months for the Iberico  and 36 months for the Bellota Premium

These variations in the type of animal, its diet and curing time, result in four varieties of ham with different flavours and nuances, but with one element in common: the exhaustive care in each stage of the process in order to offer a piece that is always delicious and well cured.

The types of Jamón/ham and their quality in Enrique Tomás:

At Enrique Tomás we have a strict selection process to guarantee that each of the legs we choose, both from non-Iberian pigs and Iberian pigs, is the ideal one to become a delicious ham that exalts to the maximum this precious standard of our gastronomy.

After selecting the ideal leg, it is prepared for salting. The expert master ham maker, or "cook" as we call it in Enrique Tomás, makes a V-shaped cut on the pig's rind and decides how much external fat he wants to leave exposed to salt, depending on the height at which the cut is made and how much fat is left, the ham will have completely different nuances and a different point of salt.

Once this process has been carried out, the leg is salted for an average of two weeks. From then on, depending on the type of ham we are going to prepare, the characteristics of the leg and the taste we want to obtain, it will be cured in the drying room for 18 to 36 months until it is optimum for consumption.

The ham according to the breed:

• White breed, not Iberian:

From which the famous Jamón Serrano or Jamón curado is made. Serrano ham is obtained from different breeds of white pigs, among the best known are the Danish Landrace, Large White and the Duroc. The latter, the Duroc, is the best known breed and gives a better quality of Serrano. It is also the only species of white pig that can be crossed with the Iberian pig to make Iberian ham.

This breed is raised entirely on the farm and will eat cereal feed as an adult.

• Iberian breed:

This breed is only bred in the Iberian Peninsula and the resulting Iberian ham is only produced here as well. It stands out for having an exclusive characteristic that no other pig breed possesses and that is the ability to infiltrate fat into the muscle. This is why its meat is so especially juicy and tasty.

Depending on the percentage of the animal's breed, in this case it is determined by the mother.

The Iberian breed is in turn classified according to the feeding of the animal:

• Iberico Jamón/ ham:

This is an Iberian pig that has been fed on feed as an adult in the exclusive area of the farm. The ham is cured for about 24 months.

• De campo iberico Jamón/ham:

It comes from an Iberian breed pig reared on the farm and partially in the wild, and fed on both feed and natural grass in adulthood.

• Bellota Premium Jamón/ham:

It comes from an Iberian breed pig reared on the farm until it reaches a weight of 100 kg eating feed. This pig does the Montanera, that is, the last phase of breeding, where it lives four months in the freedom of the pasture and eats only natural grasses such as acorns and wild herbs and also gets plenty of exercise.