It only remains for All Saints Day to pass for the Christmas season to officially begin. Despite this, the offer of typical sweets or promotions of ham legs is already growing in supermarkets. Below is a series of tips to distinguish the different qualities and production models of a ham that bears the Iberian surname.
How to distinguish Iberian hams according to the seal
Iberian hams are organized into four types according to the percentage of Iberian breed and the type of food they receive. Thus, regulatory bodies deliver four types of colored seals: black, red, green and white.
– Black seal: indicates the ham comes from a 100% Iberian pig that part of its feeding and growth has been carried out in the pasture and with acorns.
**Note: the rest of the seals indicate the type of food that a pig has received. In other words, the client must pay attention not only to the color of the seal but also to the percentage of the Iberian breed, which can be 100%, 75% or 50%).
– Red seal: they are carried by hams from pigs with a percentage of 75% or 50% Iberian breed that part of their feeding and breeding has been carried out in the pasture and with acorns.
– Green seal: indicates that the ham comes from a 100% Iberian or crossbred pig (75% or 50%) that has followed a ‘cebo de campo’ diet, that is, based on feed and products from the pasture.
– White seal: establishes that it is a ham from a 100% Iberian or crossbred pig (75% or 50%) that has undergone intensive breeding and has been fed with feed. The cheapest Iberian hams with the last name are under this seal and are those with a 50% Iberian breed percentage.
How to identify Iberian hams by sight and taste
These types of seals and labels are very clear when buying a whole piece of ham. When you buy sliced Iberian ham, you have to see the labeling and trust your trusted delicatessen. However, here is a series of tips to recognize the different types of Iberian ham by sight and taste.
100% Iberico acorn-fed ham: darker red-wine-coloured meat, it has very little grain and the white fat forms a kind of ‘Y’. The stem is narrow and long and the body is also fine. The piece shines and oozes natural fat.
50% or 75% crossed acorn-fed Iberian ham: the shank is coarser, it is not as long and the body is also coarser. The fat does not form a ‘Y’ shape and is distributed over the entire surface of the lean meat (red-pinkish in color) in the form of fine strands of white fat. In fact, the more pinkish and streaky this area is, the less pure the animal is. . Being fed with acorns, you can see the natural fat.
Field bait or Iberian bait ham: it is also more corpulent and voluminous, it has small infiltrations, but the natural smoothness is not appreciated because it has not eaten acorns.
How to identify the different types of Iberian ham according to the price
The sight or the palate is not the only way to differentiate it. It is also interesting to have a price reference. According to the businessman Enrique Tomás, some indicative prices could be: black seal, 25 euros/100 grams; red seal, 15 euros/100 grams; green seal, 12 euros/100 grams; white seal, 8.50 euros/100 grams.
Another reference to keep in mind is the guide published last year by the OCU on how to choose a good Iberian ham. A document that established the following guide prices:
– Bait: average price per kg of 64 euros.
– Bellota: 149 euros for 50% Iberian and 234 euros/kg for 100% Iberian.
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