Los Pedroches
Los Pedroches (Cordoba), Andalusia, Spain
Marbled and nutty, a characterful acorn-fed ham from the Cordoban dehesa.
Overview
Los Pedroches PDO protects 100% Ibérico hams and shoulders from the oak country of northern Córdoba. The valley's extensive holm-oak dehesa, with additional quejigo oaks in places, supports bellota and cebo-de-campo production and gives the ham a strong landscape identity.
Where it's from
Climate. The Valle de los Pedroches, continental, with hot summers and cold winters.
Altitude. Valley dehesa, continental
The cut
How to recognise it
The ham is elongated, with dark red marbled lean and soft white-to-ivory fat. The protected black or green identification indicates bellota or cebo-de-campo production. The hoof and V cut are traditional visual features, but only the official label confirms the PDO.
- Shape and size
- Iberico leg, hoof on
- Lean colour
- Deep red, marbled
- Fat and marbling
- Melting
- Casing
- None
- Surface bloom
- Natural cellar mould
Origins and history
Los Pedroches contains one of the largest continuous holm-oak dehesas in Spain. For centuries the oak woodland supported pigs, sheep, cattle, cereals and village economies across northern Córdoba. The Iberian pig was especially suited to moving between scattered trees during the montanera, gathering acorns that ripened across the season. Household slaughter and salting developed into specialist ham production in towns such as Villanueva de Córdoba. The PDO was created to retain value within the region and protect the relationship between the 100% Ibérico pig, its feeding system and local curing. Current categories are bellota and cebo de campo, each controlled from animal identification through maturation. The quejigo oak, where present, can extend the mast season and adds to the area's distinct ecology.
Name. Jamon, ham; Los Pedroches names the valley.
- Production today
- Iberico producers in the Los Pedroches valley.
- Protection
- DOP; iberico, acorn-graded.
- Tradition vs modern
- Dehesa rearing; a newer name on an old tradition.
- Seasonality
- Montanera in autumn and winter.
Compare with. Dehesa de Extremadura, Jamón Ibérico de Bellota
Serving and cultural significance
Carve thinly and serve with bread, olive oil, local cheese or Montilla-Moriles wine. The fat should soften on the plate before eating. Small offcuts are excellent in beans and eggs, but the best central slices deserve simple service.
Recipe and cure
This is not a finished recipe. It is a window into how this meat is traditionally cured. Before you follow any process, please run it through one of our curing calculators, so the salt, cure and timings are right and safe for your own batch.
Curesmith home adaptation — not designation-compliant
Make this — the measured Curesmith version →The cure below is the traditional reference. “Make this” opens the measured Curesmith home recipe, scaled to your batch.
Traditional or protected production
The current PDO uses only 100% Iberian pigs. The protected sales categories are Bellota 100% Ibérico and Cebo de Campo 100% Ibérico, with the complete production chain located in the protected territory.
Sea salt only, salt-box method; no fixed percentage.
- Meat
- Iberian pig
- Cut
- whole hind leg, bone in
- Salt (%)
- traditional, no fixed %
- Curing salt
- Sea salt only
- Fermented
- No
- Starter or mould
- Natural cellar mould possible
- Smoked
- No
- Target aW or weight loss
- ~ weight loss
- Temperature (°C)
- cold salting, then rising through the cellar
- Humidity (%)
- 60 to 80
- Maturation
- 24 to 48 months for acorn-fed
- Basis
- percentage of green meat weight
- Style
- Traditional dry salting (salt-box)
Method
- Salt the leg cold in sea salt, roughly a day per kilo, then brush off.
- Rest cold so the salt equalises through the leg.
- Move to the cellar and age, letting the temperature rise through the warmer months.
- Age to the target loss, judging by feel and weight.
Notes
- The official protected specification controls the named product. Any Curesmith EQ, starter-culture, curing-salt or home-scale adaptation is a separate method and must not be presented as designation-compliant.
- A more efficient way of curing this product is using the EQ Method. No more than 2.5% salt to meat weight is required. To follow the EQ method, please use our whole-muscle EQ curing calculator to work out proper ratios and curing times.
In the Codex
What this product teaches, and where to read more.
Temple. Pillar, Meat Quality