About Spanish Ham and Charcuterie
Spain has long been a major producer and consumer of pork products. The reasons for this are historical, cultural and geographical.
The production of cured meat goes back almost as far as human history. Before the advent of refrigeration in the 19th century it was the only reliable way to provide a valuable protein source for most people and a little variety into a diet that would probably be dependent on very basic dishes. How the practice of salting meat began is unknown, but obviously it was widespread and known to be effective throughout much of the world many millennia BC.
Jamón serrano translates as mountain ham and, it is here that cured ham production is at its best. The most basic necessities for the production of jamón serrano are altitude, wind and seasonal temperature variations, three factors prevalent in many mountainous regions, and, as the country with the second highest average altitude in Europe (behind Switzerland) and the possessor of a reliable continental climate, Spain has the ideal conditions for this practice.
The history of ham production in Spain goes back millennia and their quality has been acknowledged for almost as long. The Greek historian Strabo, in the first century BC comments on the excellence of the hams of the Carretanian people of the western Pyrenees, comparing them with the well reputed hams of Cantabria. Pliny the elder, writing in the first century AD made remark on the quality of the hams of Pompeipolis (Pamplona). These are evidence of well developed habits of ham production.
Initially the production and consumption of hams was entirely seasonal; the animals would be bred in the spring, fatten up in the summer and be slaughtered in the autumn, often the only time of the year during which fresh pork would be consumed. The curing would then begin in the winter months and continue through the spring and summer again. As well as hams, made from the legs of pigs, the rest of the carcass would also be used to produce cured sausages, blood sausages, loins, pancetta etc. And regional preferences would become more pronounced to become local specialities.
Throughout the period of the Moorish occupation of Spain, from the beginning of the 8th c. to the end of the 15th c., the consumption of pork became a religious and political symbol of revolt against the ruling Muslim authorities, a means of asserting independence, and it was during this time that pork became so entrenched in what was to become Spanish culture.
In the 15th and 16th c. there was an enormous change in Spanish eating habits brought about by the novel foods that came from the New World, which included tomatoes, potatoes, beans and, very importantly, peppers, from which pimentón was produced. Suddenly the pallet of flavours available to all increased hugely and resulted in the origins of what we now recognise as contemporary Spanish regional cuisine. One of the products which defied regional limitations was the chorizo which was adopted everywhere and swiftly spread throughout the country.