Processing and maturing of our cured ham

At the moment of their arrival each fresh pork leg undergoes a thorough check, so that legs with imperfections or unsuitable for processing are rejected, or wheighing less than 11 kg (minimum weight limit ).

First of all fresh legs are salted by hand with sea salt, which is the only ingredient we add for ham preparation.
The next stage is the “resting”: hams, after having excess salt cleaned off their ski, are rested in special rooms at a temperature around 0°C. This enables salt to penetrate uniformly in all the muscular mass. During the rest period the hams also begin to be dried. Drying of hams goes on also during the next stage, i.e. seasoning, and lasts until the end of processing.

During the seasoning stage hams are hung onto wooden racks in large storage rooms whose temperature and humidity are kept under control exclusively by opening and closing the high windows of storage rooms depending on the weather conditions. In this way the micro climate and unique air of San Daniele play their fundamental role to complete the work of man.

During this period they also undergo “stuccoing”, i.e. covering of the lean meat exposed to air drying with a special paste made of a mixture of lard, flour, salt and other “secret” ingridients. This paste protects the lean part of the ham and prevents it from excessive dehydration. Also this operation is carried out in our firm by hand, as long time ago.

When hams are 12 months of age they are branded with the “Prosciutto di San Daniele” mark under the careful control of a Certification Institute inspector.
Each ham producing factory is identified by its own number. We have been assigned number 36.

At this point ham could be put on sale; however, we think that 12 month curing is not enough, and so we prefer to sell our hams after 14-15 month curing.
So, only at the end of this maturing stage, and after hams are tested by inserting a horse-bone needle into them in order to judge if they meet quality standards (this operation is called “puntatura”, i.e. sticking) our hams are definetely ready to be sold and apprciated by gourmets all over Europe

The pigs used for the preparation of our D.O.P. branded hams are all exclusively of Italian originand raised according to strict regulations that set out requirements for their diet, breeding, rearing conditions and age of slaughtering (which is never carried out before they are nine months of age).

For ulterior information on the prosciutto of San Daniele it visits
www.prosciuttosandaniele.it