Literally, the word "prosciutto" derives from the Latin perexsuctum which means "dried of liquid"; broadly speaking, "prosciutto" refers to a dry-cured ham. That is, a whole back leg of a mature pig packed in salt for weeks, then rinsed and hung to dry for many months or even years. Confusingly, "prosciutto" is the Italian word for ham (the leg of a pig); so, in Italy the distinction is made between "prosciutto crudo", meaning raw ham, being the cured ham which English speakers refer to as simply "prosciutto", and "prosciutto cotto" being a cooked ham. To add another level of confusion, North Americans generally grow up referring to "ham" as the common smoked pork leg used for lunchmeat, instead of "ham" referring to a raw leg of pig. Let's attempt to end the confusion right now - when we speak of "prosciutto" we are talking about a dry-cured leg of pig.

Prosciutto is generally sliced paper-thin and often served in Italian cuisine as an antipasto, wrapped around grissini or, especially in summer, cantaloupe or honeydew. It may be included in a simple pasta sauce made with cream, or a Tuscan dish of tagliatelle and vegetables. It is served in sandwiches, often in a variation of the Caprese salad, with basil, tomato, and fresh mozzarella. Prosciutto may further be used as a stuffing for other meats, in a filled bread or as a pizza topping. Personally, a good quality prosciutto is best served one way and way only - on its own.

Prosciutti around the world

Using salt to dry-cure hams has been a process used since ancient Egyptian times. Before refrigeration, salting was the only way to keep the flesh of animals for any length of time without spoiling. Today, the majority of dry-cured hams in North America come from one of the following four sources, which we will discuss in more detail below: (1) Parma, Italy, the source of Prosciutto di Parma; (2) the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, the source of Prosciutto di San Daniele; (3) Serrano Ham from Spain; and (4) local producers.

The story of Prosciutto is really the story of pigs - it takes the best pigs eating the right foods to make a perfect ham. The overall process of making any prosciutto is basically the same anywhere in the world and includes trimming the ham, using salt to cure the ham, then air drying the ham for a period ranging from 1-2 years. Despite the similarity in the process, prosciuttos from around the world will have different flavors, aromas, and textures that make them unique - all a result of the breed of pig, what the pig ate and how it was treated, even the air the pig breathed - all factors combine to create the flavor profile.

Unfortunately for us North Americans, we rarely get a chance to experience the best dry-cured hams Europe has to offer, since the smaller, more unique and often highest-quality producers are sold-out locally. If you're planning a trip to Europe (especially Italy, Spain or France), be sure to write down the names of some hams to seek out in restaurants or grocery stores to taste prosciutti that are completely different than those we are used to here at home. You may have to shell out a few extra dollars for ham from some of the niche producers, but a little goes a long way in flavor and experiencing that flavor is experiencing the authentic cuisine of the country you are in.

Rather than seeking out certain brands which requires more detailed research, one easy way to recognize different hams is to seek out EU Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) prosciutti.  Under the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, certain well-established meat products are covered by PDOs or other designations of geographical origin for traditional specialties (not unlike designated regions for wine). The European Commission Agriculture and Rural Development site lists the following PDOs for dry-cured ham, in alphabetical order by country:

Belgium: Jambon d'Ardenne

Bulgaria: Elenski but, made in the town of Elena in Bulgaria

France: Bayonne ham, from the French Basque country

Germany: Ammerländer Schinken/Ammerländer Knochenschinken

Italy:

Prosciutto di Parma, Italy
Prosciutto di San Daniele, Italy
Prosciutto di Modena, Italy (PDO)
Prosciutto Veneto Berico-Euganeo, Italy (PDO)
Prosciutto di Carpegna, near Montefeltro, Italy (PDO)
Prosciutto di Norcia, Italy (PGI)
Prosciutto Toscano, Italy (PDO)
Prosciutto crudo di San Daniele (UD)

Portugal: Presunto in Portugal (similar to Jamón serrano)

Spain:
Jamón ibérico
Jamón serrano

Other Notable Dry-Cured Hams:
Pršut, from the Balkans

Dalmatinski Pršut, from Dalmatia in Croatia
Njeguška pršuta, from Njeguši, Montenegro
Kraški pršut, from Karst, Slovenia

Keep in mind, however, that several countries maintain their own denominations (or DOCs) that may include regional hams not included in the EU set.

Prosciutto Di Parma

The popular Prosciutto di Parma (perhaps the world's most widely known ham) is made from specially bred Large White, Landrance and Duroc locally raised pigs which are fed a strict diet of grain, cereal and whey from locally made Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The whey results in a slightly nutty flavor in the prosciutto. Pigs used must be reared in one of 11 regions in central-north Italy and must weigh at least 140kg at the time of slaughter and should be a minimum of 9 months old.    

Just four ingredients are permitted in the production of Prosciutto di Parma: Italian pigs, salt, air and time. The salting of the hams is performed by a maestro salatore, who uses enough salt to cure the meat, whilst ensuring that the ham does not lose its sweetness, which is the hallmark of properly made Prosciutto di Parma. The hams are then left in 80% humidity for about a week. Any residual salt is then removed and the hams are given a second salting and left for 15-18 days, depending on weight. The hams are then hung and refrigerated in 65% humidity for 70 days. Next they are washed and brushed to remove any excess salt, and left in drying rooms. The hams are now ready for the initial curing. This takes place in temperature and humidity controlled rooms that are equipped with windows to let in natural air from outside. Many believe that this stage is the key to the development of Parma's inimitable flavor. After about three months the exposed areas of the ham, those areas that are not protected by skin, have dried out and can be covered with a protective film of lard and salt. The ham is now ready for the second cure. They are taken to dark cellars and hung on racks for a period of at least one year, although certain hams may be cured for up to 30 months. At the end of this laborious curing process the ham is ready for tasting. Using a hollowed out horse bone the inspector pierces the ham five times, at different points. The aroma of the meat inside indicates that correct curing has taken place and that the ham is of sufficient quality to be branded as Prosciutto di Parma. Those hams that pass all quality tests are branded with the trademark of the Prosciutto di Parma consortium, the five-pointed ducal crown. Only the consortium may brand hams with this symbol, a guarantee of the quality and authenticity of Prosciutto di Parma.

For more information, visit: www.prosciuttodiparma.com

Prosciutto Di San Daniele

The town of San Daniele, a small town of 8,000 people in the heart of Friuli in northern Italy produces what is widely acknowledged as the best prosciutto in all of Italy. Of course, as with all things Italian, this statement results in heated discussion over a glass (or several glasses) of wine. The Prosciutto di San Daniele is cured using local sea salt in sparse amounts and also, like Prosciutto di Parma, results in a prosciutto considered sweet. Between the two, San Daniele tends to be darker in color and sweeter in flavor than Parma ham. Prosciutto di San Daniele is characterized by its flat guitar shape because the hams are stacked on top of each other during curing.

San Daniele prosciutto must be made with the fresh thighs of Italian-bred heavy pigs in excellent health. Located in the foothills of the Italian Alps, San Daniele has the ideal microclimate for air-curing meat. Cool winds off the mountains mingle with warm breezes from the Adriatic to create constant ventilation and low humidity, a kind of "natural air conditioning," that enhances the flavor of the meat.

The San Daniele consortium oversees the production of over 3,000,000 prosciutto hams per year, about 14% of the total production of Italy. There are 28 producers who carry the San Daniele name.  

For more information, visit: http://www.prosciuttosandaniele.it/

Spanish Ham

A Photo I took in the deli section of a typical Spanish grocery store. The hams save money otherwise spent on wallpaper.

Other Notable World Hams

The delicate tasting French Jambon de Bayonne comes from the capital of the French Basque country. It is salted using local sea salt and then dried in that region for at least seven months so that it develops its characteristic aroma and becomes tender.  Definitely worth a try!

Jambon d'Ardennes from Belgium are also worth seeking out. These hams are manually dry-salted with sea salt, juniper berries, thyme, and coriander, smoked over beech and oak till dark brown, and then long-aged to acquire full-bodied flavor and soft texture. Every Ardennes ham has a yellow-numbered leaden seal as a guarantee of quality and origin.

If you find yourself in Tuscany, a great variance to the Proscuitti di Parma and San Daniele is Prosciutto Toscano; unlike the sweet prosciutti that make up the majority of prosciutto production, Toscano is a "savory" ham with the salt accompanied by pepper, garlic, rosemary and juniper. 

A Recipe for Curing A Prosciutto

I have vivid memories of watching my father salt pork hams in January, when our cantina was cool enough to ensure the safe curing and initial drying of hams in a non-refrigerated environment. For the average household, the cellar (known as the cantina in my family) is too warm and humid in the spring, summer, and fall, but January and February provide perfect conditions. In Bill Buford's book Heat: An Amateur's Adventures As Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-maker, And Apprentice To A Dante, Buford describes talking to an old Italian butcher who says "When I was young, there was one kind of prosciutto. It was made in the winter, by hand, and aged for two years. It was sweet when you smelled it. A profound perfume. Unmistakable. To age a prosciutto is a subtle business. If it's too warm, the aging process never begins. The meat spoils. If it's too dry, the meat is ruined. It needs to be damp but cool. The summer is too hot. In the winter-that's when you make salumi. Your prosciutto. Your soppressata. Your sausages." For the recipe, I turn it over to Ryan who makes our prosciutti in-house.

Prosciutto Di Timmins: A Recipe Nonetheless

By Ryan Donovan

All good food must wear its origin proudly and tout the lineage of its craftsman. My mother was born in a small Belgian farming village called Herzela, between Ghent and Brussels. My father was born in Timmins. In butchery, this makes me about as qualified to make prosciutto as Wayne Gretzky is to be a linebacker for the New Orleans Saints.

But, even the Great One would understand my lust for the salty plump and purple insides of dry cured ham: it takes a patient reverence, a bookish insight, and the co-operation of the wind, literally. When autumn rolls around in Toronto, the weather is sometimes hotter than it has been all summer and the tacky putrid air sweeping in off Lake Ontario smells little of figs and black walnuts. In fact, it doesn't even sweep: it lumbers.

This is not to say that we must import our cured hams. Nor is it to say that we in Ontario are being robbed of the opportunity to proudly champion the flavor profile of our terroir. We can cure ham. In fact, with all the pigs in Ontario, we bloody well have to. At The Healthy Butcher, we approach charcuterie with an old fashioned logic: if we don't, what will we do with all this stuff? The average modern North American butcher shop that purchases boxed meat from a wholesaler does not have this problem. But for us, using the whole animal is a point of ethics. When supporting this ethic, a penchant for charcuterie is invaluable.

And in the world of charcuterie, this is the second best time of year. Autumn signals many things: the early spring pigs are reaching the right weight for slaughter, the temperatures are dropping, the moisture levels are rising. While the earliest time to start curing prosciutti in a home cellar is January, autumn demands a trip to the local farm with the intention of sussing out the sow.  Making prosciutto is a long process, and as with all good food, it begins with your buying decisions.

The best time of year, of course, is when you taste the hams: when you sit down to eat them with crusty bread, heirloom tomatoes and wet young cheese. Here is my recipe for making prosciutto. It was not handed down to me through my father's lineage and I have no memories of eating it as a child. But I am proud that it works well in Ontario: it is considerate of our climate, of our options for consumption, and of the need to use the whole animal.

This recipe is very simple, and once you master it, there is lots of room to add your own flare. As you get started, you can make your life easier by having me do Step 2 for you. You can find me at the shop, ogling the cheese case.

The Healthy Butcher's Organic Prosciutto in 10 Steps, One of Which is Particularly Easy

1. Make a 2:1::Salt:Sugar cure.  The general rule to follow for making prosciutto is 1 Lbs of cure for each 10 Lbs of raw Ham with 1 week of salt curing time for each 5 Lbs of raw ham. So, for a 20 Lbs raw ham, apply 2 Lbs of cure and allow for 4 weeks of salt curing time.

2. Remove the aitch bone from the ham. Leave the rind on. Remove the trotter but leave the hock. Shape the femur end of the ham into an appealing semi circle.

3. Put the ham in a non-reactive container (ceramic, plastic or wood - but not metal) and rub with the cure (above). Be very thorough and liberal with the rub, particularly around the exposed hock and the exposed femur bone. It is in these areas that bacteria is most likely to develop.

4. Place a lid on the container and put the ham in a cool dark place, between 1C to 4C.

5. Monitor the hams over the next few weeks. As the cure dissolves into the meat and the ham looses moisture, drain off the moisture and reapply additional dry cure.

6. After 4 weeks remove the hams from the non-reactive container. Rinse the hams with a mixture of balsamic vinegar and red wine that has been reduced by half over a hot flame (and let cool).

7. Dry the hams with a clean dry fabric cloth.

8. Tie a strong loop several times around the hock, finishing with a slip knot. The end of the tie should have a loop, so as to suspend the prosciutto from the ceiling.

9. Find a dark cool place to hang the prosciutto. The temperature and humidity should be constant and the more air circulation the better.

10. Wait a year.

About the Butcher

The Healthy Butcher is located in Toronto, Canada and is Toronto’s source for the best tasting and largest selection of Certified Organic meat, specializing in all cuts of locally grown beef, lamb, pork, chicken, bison, elk, duck, ostrich, Cornish hen, quail, goose, and other premium meats.  The store also offers a wide selection of gourmet prepared foods created by their in-house team of chefs always seeking local, organic, and seasonal ingredients.