Iberico Ham de Bellota

Jamón ibérico de bellota is the top category of Spanish cured ham: legs from Ibérico pigs that roam the oak pastures of western Spain and fatten on fallen acorns before slaughter. Sliced thin, it is soft, sweet and nutty, with fat that melts at room temperature.

Use & Features

• Acorn-fed during the montanera, the autumn and winter season when the pigs forage freely across the dehesa for acorns and grass.
• Fat marbled through the meat, rich in oleic acid, which gives the silky texture and long, nutty finish.
• Air-cured for a long time: Spain's quality rules set a minimum of 600 days for smaller legs and 730 days for legs over 7 kg, and many producers go well beyond that.
• Serve at room temperature in paper-thin slices, on its own, with bread or alongside fino sherry, Champagne or a light red.

Care & Tips

Keep a whole leg in a cool, dry place away from direct sun, and cover the cut face with a slice of its own fat or a cloth to stop it drying. Carve only what you will eat, with a long, flexible ham knife. Take pre-sliced packs out of the fridge 20 to 30 minutes before serving so the fat softens and the aromas come through.

Who It's For

Tapas spreads, wine tastings and festive entertaining where a platter of hand-cut ham is the centrepiece.

Product Details

About the Brand

Under Spain's Ibérico quality standard, the word bellota may only be used for pigs that finish on acorns and pasture during the montanera, with no supplementary feed. Every leg carries a coloured tag: black for bellota from 100% Ibérico pigs and red for bellota from pigs of 50% or 75% Ibérico breed. Green and white tags mark the lower, grain-fed categories.

The curing is slow. Legs are salted, rested, then hung for years in natural drying rooms, often in mountain towns such as Jabugo in the Sierra de Aracena, where the seasons do much of the work. Protected designations such as DOP Jabugo and DOP Los Pedroches add further origin rules.