Jamón de Trevélez

Jamón de Trevélez (also Trevélez ham) is a Spanish PGI for hams of white pigs (Landrace, Large White and Duroc-Jersey crosses) cured in the high Alpujarra on the south-west face of Sierra Nevada, Granada, above 1,200 m. Depending on fresh weight a ham cures 14, 17 or 20 months. The name was registered in the EU on 15 November 2005.

Picture a drying shed with snow outside in winter and a national park all around. That is the reality: every plot where this ham may be cured lies inside Sierra Nevada National Park, in a cold climate with plenty of snow. The specification ties the ham to the Alpujarra for more than 200 years.

The fresh leg weighs more than 11.3 kg and comes from castrated males or females. Fat cover depends on weight: at least 1 cm for legs up to 12.3 kg, 1.5 cm up to 13.5 kg, 2 cm for heavier ones; muscle pH is 5.5–6.4. This is a ham, and only a ham: the PGI has no shoulder.

The legs are piled in cold rooms between layers of sea salt with no additives, about one day per kilo. They are washed with drinking water, kept up to 90 days at 3–7 °C, then hung to dry in natural conditions, grouped by weight. The minimum is 14 months for 11.3–12.3 kg legs, 17 for 12.3–13.5 kg and 20 for heavier ones. A ham must lose at least 35% of its weight; if it does not, it cures more than 3 months longer.

The zone covers the parts above 1,200 m of eight municipalities: Trevélez, Juviles, Busquístar, Pórtugos, La Taha, Bubión, Capileira and Bérchules. Registration came with Regulation (EC) 1855/2005, and the specification was amended in 2013.

The shape is round, with rind and hoof; the cut is red and bright, fat partly marbled in, the taste delicate and lightly salty, the fat unctuous and white-yellowish.

Jamón de Teruel is a PDO that keeps the whole chain in its province; Trevélez ties only the curing to its area, but sits higher, at 1,200 m against 800. Jamón serrano cures from 7 months and loses at least 33% of its weight, Trevélez 14–20 months and at least 35%.

The label must read «Indicación Geográfica Protegida «Jamón de Trevélez»». Each leg gets a numbered seal on arrival and a final one after checks on weight loss, curing time and quality; the regulatory council records the numbers. The page How to carve jamón covers the knife work; for the wider picture see Dry-cured hams and shoulders and Jamón.

Why this matters to you: the village name on the label is not the address of a single shed. In 2023, according to MAPA, six sheds sold 203,858 hams. Look for the final seal, which goes on only once a ham has passed inspection.