Provenance and Elaboration

All products are made at our facilities Señorío de los Pedroches in Villanueva de Córdoba (Cordoba). Señorío de los Pedroches is established since 2002 and offers only high quality products. We are committed to improving every day, and this online store is proof of them. From here we try to provide access to such products by the distance have been difficult to achieve. We comply with European health standards and hygiene, and we strictly follow the regulation board for the Denomination of Origin Los Pedroches.

Following the rules of the Denomination of Origin Los Pedroches our Iberian hams and has a 75% pure Iberian breed, one of the appellations of origin discerning with the quality of their products. The hams and not belonging to the DO Pedroches are Iberian, having a purity of 50% minimum Iberian.

The Iberian ham flavor is unmistakable: delicate, slightly salty or sweet and pleasant fragrance. The flavor will vary depending on theamount of acorns that have eaten and the exercise the Iberian ham had made.

The elaboration of Iberian ham is a process that starts from pig breeding to ham as we know it. Once the piglet begins to feed off thematernal environment, provide natural feed is verified by the Regulatory Board denomination of origin if it was. It is in the fourth quarterwhen the pig, which weighs about 100kg, begins to walk around the pasture and their feeding is focused in the acorn. It then begins themontanera, which is a time period of about four or five months in which the pig wanders and roams freely through the meadows whilefeeding fat with acorns and pasture.

The acorn is very important for future quality Iberian ham. It is who brings enough energy to pigs for fattening and which define theveining muscle with fat. An Iberian pig can get to eat during montanera up to 10 kg of acorns a day and 3 Kg. herbs that provide the proteins it needs. In this way the Iberian pig after fattening stage on pasture, can weigh between 160 and 185 kg.

Once the Iberian pig ready for slaughtering after the montanera is taken to the slaughterhouse where he began his cutting. Each pig is marked and each of its limbs is labeled breeding characteristics. The Spanish slaughter facilities comply with all regulations and lawsregarding health and safety concerns and are even the very denomination of origin who force the standards in procedures.

We have the forelimbs (shoulders) and rear (hams) and labeled exploded, now is the turn of salting (salazón). It is the time when the ham is completely covered by salt. This process takes about a day for every kg of ham or shoulder. After this time, remove the salt andthe piece is washed with warm water.

Over the next 40-55 days, will be kept hanging in installations where salt naturally absorbed is distributed throughout the ham or evenly.The drying or curing occurs moisture conditions and controlled temperature conditions. This drying covers six to nine months.

The last stage of the development consists of aging in Bodega. The aging time ranges from 6 months to 48 months depending on the denomination of origin, the weight of the ham and other conditions. During aging, it will lead to a thin layer of fungi which help stabilizeand define both acids like texture.

The steps are summarized as follows:

Salazón (Salting): Incorporating sea salt pig limbs that favor dehydration.
Asentamiento (Settlement): After salting, it takes some time to the salt concentration is evenly distributed up to the exact point of salt.
Lavado (Washing): Elimination of salt to help the next step is use correctly.
Secado y maduración (Drying and maturation): In our facilities and stringent ventilation controls, the pieces repose at temperatures between 15 to 20 º C.
Envejecimiento en Bodega (Ageing in Bodega): Depending on the features you want to give, will be between 9 and 48 monthsat a temperature of between 15 and 25 ° C and humidity of 40-65%.

Here you can enjoy a video in which you will see graphically the different stages mentioned until the great Iberian ham.