Yesterday, I took at group of people from South Korea on an Iberian ham tour. We started with a visit to Sánchez Romero Carvajal producers of the famous 5J hams. I have not been to their ham factory for a number if years as they stopped visits. Their new centre for visits is not actually open, so we were acting as guinea pigs. They have a lot of interactive panels, short films, etc. explaining everything about how the pigs are bred, their environment, the importance of acorns, as well as how the hams are cured and why the ham is so amazingly good.
We did a fantastic ham tasting, sampling ham from the 3 principal muscles of the leg with an expert ham cutter explaining the differences.
Afterwards, we visited a farm where all the pigs for this year’s hams have gone on their final journey. The pigs in the photo below will become hams and all the other fine Iberian pork products next year.
In the last photo below, you can see the leader of he Korean group trying his hand at cutting ham. He was very good at it, especially seeing that this was his first attempt!
