This week I have run my Iberian ham tour four times which is probably a record. This has meant eating a lot of acorn-fed Iberian ham and other delights from the Iberian pig. I have, however, skipped a few courses at the restaurant where we normally go for lunch as going there fours times in five days is a lot of food.
Anyway, the countryside in the ham area at this time of year is wonderful and on each tour I have run we have gone for for a walk amomg the holm oaks and cork oaks. The trees are full of catkins at the moment (see photo below) due to all the rain we had in March. Hopefully, this will mean a plentiful crop of acorns for the Iberian pigs come the autumn and winter.
The next photo below is a close-up of a cork oak tree and shows the divide between where cork has been removed and cork hasn’t. Cork can be removed from a cork tree once every nine years.
