Have you ever heard of Spain’s star product, called jamón ibérico?
This food, which we’ll call Spanish ham, is one of the most sought-after and expensive food products in the world. It is a cured meat, but it’s a cured meat unlike any other you might have had before.
The pigs that are used to make Spanish ham live naturally in prairies, and they eat a free-range diet of acorns. This fattens them up, and creates an exquisitely delicious meat. Just one leg of this Spanish ham can set you back almost $1,000.
Due to the relative difficulty of acquiring Spanish ham in the United States and outside of Spain, a group of American farmers in the state of Georgia are trying to make their own version of the delicacy.
This farm, called White Oak Pastures, is located in the south of Georgia. The farmers there purchased the Iberian pigs that are used to make the “real thing” and are now attempting to recreate the product in the United States.
These pigs won’t eat the traditional diet of acorns, however, as they don’t grow in the geographical region where the pigs are being raised. Instead, they eat a mixed diet of pecans and peanuts.
While it isn’t exactly like the “real thing,” the Spanish ham produced by White Oak Pastures are aged just like the real thing and are supposed to be delicious.
