Procuitto de Parma

The word "procuitto" basically just means "ham" in Italian, and the root of the word is actually derived from "acuitto", meaning "to dry". Several types of procuitto are DOP products, the second most highly regarded is Procuitto de Parma. (San Danielle Riserva is considered to be of higher quality, from the north, but personally it's a bit to sweet for me, though still very nice). All procuitto is made from the hind legs of pigs. Procuitto de Parma is crudo- raw, as opposed to cotto, meaning cooked, so no heat is involved in this process ever.

The pigs used for Procuitto de Parma are fed acorns and grains, and again, the diet is strictly controlled by the consortzio. In fact, they also must drink some of the milk left over from Parmegiano-Reggiano production. Only the male pigs are used- their muscle-to-fat ratio is higher, and the legs themselves are generally larger. When the pigs are slaughtered, the legs must be cut quite carefully, as only a certain cut can be used for the consortzio, any "inferior" legs will be sold as procuitto natzionale, their "generic" qualification.

The plants are strictly controlled, and must have windows of a certain shape and size in the curing rooms. The whole process is very specifically defined, any deviation and the hams will not recieve the crown brand. The machine above is the first step when the legs arrive. It is filled with sea salts, and has paddles inside that gently massage the legs to relax the muscles, and work out any blood that may remain in the vessels. The salt is also applied in the machine, but each leg is checked by hand, and the area around the bone is salted by the workers, as only a trained eye can really apply the right amount of salt.

The legs are placed on thier sides at this point, and moved into a refrigerator set at 1-4 degrees celsius, where they will remain for one week.

After the first refigeration, the legs are run through another massaging machine, and salted again. A worker then carefully ties waxed rope around the hock of each leg and hangs it inverted on these racks. The racks are placed into a different refigerator, set at 5-8 degrees celsius, for two weeks. They are then salted and massaged agian, and aged in the refrigerator for another 6 months.

After the refrigerated aging process, the legs are moved to the curing area, which is in the basement, so a bit cooler than room temperature. A mixture called "sonia", made of pork fat, rice flour, salt, and pepper is rubbed onto the exposed muscle (but not the skin), to help preserve and protect this area. The fat is to seal, the salt to preserve, the rice flour allows it to stick, and the black pepper keeps insects at bay. A very thin strand of muscle is left uncovered-only the area by the cut of the skin on the inside of the leg, called the "crown". They are aged for 12 months in this room.

I wish I could say that no horses were harmed in this process, but horse bone is very pourus, so a specially carved piece of horse leg bone is used to check the legs. It is inserted at five points on each individual leg, and a highly trained consortzio inspector quickly smells the bone. Their sense of smell is so refined that they can sense if there is any trace of blood or mold in the ham, which would cause the leg to be rejected and used as procuitto natzionale, after the bad part is trimmed away.

The highest quality legs have very little hair, smooth, unscarred skin with minimal capillaries visable, and absolutely no bruising. Every part of the leg is checked, and must be perfect. After aging, the locals cut off the sonia, and use it to make a kind of salumi, so once again, nothing is wasted.

I think that's enough for today, tomorrow: Balsamic vinegar, the good stuff. And by good stuff, I really mean it. If I have time (which I hopefully should), Brunello from Montecchio and lunch at a villa in Tuscany. Life is damn hard here in Italy *wink wink*.

Buena notte, ragazzi.