I Like Pigeons Because Nobody Else Does

The south-west area of Spain is home to not only the finest sherry in the world, but something else called Iberian ham. It’s produced only in Spain and is at least 75% black Iberian pig, also called the cerdo negro. These are Iberian hams at the local supermarket:

The curing process takes between 12 and 36 months. Iberian pigs are special because they’re not really domesticated and not completely wild. It is thought that they were brought to Spain by the Phonecians and then interbred with wild boar. The first breeds of these pigs are able to be traced back to 1000 BC and all that time in the interim has allowed them to evolve and become an integral part of the Mediterranean ecosystem.

After weaning, they’re fed a diet of corn and barley until they’re able to survive on their own and then they’re turned loose in herds to live out the rest of their lives in the wild. They roam the mountains and hills of southern Spain subsisting on grasses, herbs, roots and largely, acorns. It’s the acorn diet and exercise in a natural environment that makes their meat such high quality. I loathe ham and am not much of a meat eater at all, mostly due to the fact that animals in the US are raised in horrific conditions and I refuse to support the industry. But, given the fact that these pigs are able to live out their lives like animals should, and we were in Spain where this figures prominently in local cuisine and history, I thought I’d give it a shot. I’m glad I did because this stuff knocked me on my ass. Wow. I don’t possess the food vernacular to adequately describe the flavor, but it was like nothing I’ve had before – not gamey, not salty, not even remotely comparable to American ham…just amazing.

This ham is served as an appetizer or tapas in very thin slices. We got a variety platter in a restaurant that had 5 different kinds, four paper-thin slices of each. That’s all we needed. No need to be a glutton. We went on a hike in the nearby  Park and saw evidence that pigs had been through the area: