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The
leg should be long and thin, without hair. |
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The hoof of
the hog should be dark. |
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When you squeeze
the ham with your fingers, your fingers should sink into the ham
easily. The fat of the ham should be soft and smooth. |
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There should
be a label from The Instituto Nacional de Denominaciones de Origin
(INDO) that shows the ham’s DO – Denominación
de Origen. As a regulated agricultural product, all approved hams
have a DO (place of origin). |
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Your Iberic
ham should weigh between 6 – 7.5 kgs. |
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Each Iberian
ham has a date branded on its leg which shows the date
(week and year) that the hog was killed. From this, you can determine
whether it had a sufficient amount of curing – 20 –
28 months. |
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When you cut
the Iberic ham, the best hams have strips of fat
throughout the ham (not only on the side). These strips come from
a hog that ate lots of acorns – the fat is spread evenly throughout
the meat. |