World's Best Ham by PataNegra.dk

Spain has once again put one of its most iconic foods in the spotlight: jamón. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has opened the 2026 edition of the Alimentos de España Awards for Best Hams, a national contest that recognizes quality, tradition, and the skill behind Spanish cured ham. Applications are open until May 7, 2026, giving producers across the country the chance to present their best pieces. The goal is not only to choose a winner but also to promote Spanish ham as a product with a history, identity, and real craft behind it. Two Categories, One Big Tradition The awards are divided into two main groups. One is for Best Serrano Ham or other recognized quality figures, while the other focuses on Best Bellota Ibérico Ham, one of Spain's most famous gourmet products. To take part, producers must be based in Spain, and the company itself must make the ham. They also need to show a steady production record, including at least 1,500 pieces a year over the last three...

Dubrovnik had a distinct flavor in the air this April as it hosted the 12th Croatian Pršut Days on April 24 and 25, 2026. The event brought together pršut producers, food experts, tourism professionals, and curious visitors who wanted to taste one of Croatia's most-loved traditional products. After several years, Croatian Pršut Days returned to Dubrovnik, making the city once again a meeting place for heritage, food, and local pride. The program began at Hotel Lapad, where producers and experts discussed quality, production standards, market challenges, and the future of Croatian pršut. A Tradition With Regional Character Croatian pršut is not just dry-cured ham. It carries the story of the region where it is made. The event highlighted four EU-protected varieties: Krk, Istrian, Drniš,niš and Dalmatian pršut. Each has its own taste, shaped by climate, sea air, local met, hods and years of careful preparation. One of the main moments of the event was the selection of the best pršut...

Iberian ham has always had a little mystery around it. You see it hanging in shops, glowing under warm lights, with that deep red color and shining fat, and it already feels like something special. Then you check the price and, well, it feels even more serious. So the real question is simple: how do you know if a jamón ibérico is actually worth the money? This is where experts often mention a small trick, sometimes called the "cotton test." The name sounds a bit dramatic, but the idea is very simple. It is about touching the fat, especially around the ham's hip area. In a good jamón ibérico de bellota, the fat should not feel hard, dry, or waxy. It should feel soft, smooth, and almost oily. Press it gently, and your finger should sink in slightly, like touching butter left out for a while. That soft fat tells a story. It usually means the pig had a rich diet, often acorns during the montanera season, and that the ham was cured with care. Of course, one touch does not tel...

Spain's latest montanera season has ended with a small but meaningful rise, giving the Iberian pork sector a reason to breathe a little easier. According to ASICI, the interprofessional association for Iberian pork, the 2025/26 campaign closed with 598,090 acorn-fed Iberian pigs slaughtered , a 3% increase compared with the previous season. That may sound like just another production figure, but in this sector, numbers carry weight. It means 17,425 more bellota pigs reached the market this year. More importantly, it breaks a three-year period of adjustment and makes this the second-strongest montanera campaign of the last five years, behind only 2021/22. For producers, this feels like a careful recovery. Not a boom. Not a rush. Just a sign that the countryside, the animals, and the market are starting to line up again. What Montanera Really Means To understand why this matters, it helps to understand what montanera actually is. Montanera is the final fattening stage of the Ibe...

The montanera has always been one of the most special moments in the life of the Iberian pig. It is the season when the animals move freely through the dehesa, feeding on acorns, walking under holm oaks, and making use of a landscape that has shaped Spanish food culture for generations. At first glance, nothing seems very modern here. There are trees, open fields, quiet animals, and the slow passing of time. But behind this traditional scene, a new technological step is now being tested. COVAP, together with the agrotech company Innogando, has developed a pioneering smart monitoring system for Iberian pigs living in freedom during the montanera. It is not technology replacing tradition. Not really. It is more like technology trying to better understand itself. How the system works The project uses smart devices fitted to the pigs to collect information about their movement and behaviour. These devices combine sensors, IoT tools, and artificial intelligence to follow what the animal do...

In Modena, food is never just food. It carries memory, landscape, patience, and a little bit of pride. Prosciutto di Modena DOP is a perfect example of this. At first, it may look like a delicate slice of cured ham, but behind it lies a whole territory: hills, villages, old traditions, family knowledge, and the slow rhythm of time. The new tourist itineraries linked to Prosciutto di Modena DOP invite visitors to discover the area in a more personal way, not only by eating, but also by walking through the area, meeting producers, visiting historic towns, and understanding why this product belongs so deeply to Modena. It is a kind of travel where taste becomes the guide. From Modena's Heart to the Hills The journey can begin in the centre of Modena, where Piazza Grande, the Duomo, and the Ghirlandina Tower tell the story of a city shaped by beauty and craft. These are not just monuments to look at quickly and move on. They create the mood of the place. Calm, elegant, full of detail....

You buy a beautiful piece of Spanish ham, cut a few thin slices, and then notice something unusual: tiny white dots. Maybe a few crystals are sitting inside the lean part of the meat. At first, it can look strange. Some people think it is salt. Others worry it might be mould, or that the ham has gone bad. The good news is simple: in most cases, those white crystals are not a problem at all. In fact, they are often a good sign. These little white marks are usually tyrosine crystals . Tyrosine is a natural amino acid that appears during the curing and ageing process of ham. It forms when proteins in the meat slowly break down. So, instead of being a warning sign, those small white points often show that the ham has matured properly. And with good jamón, time is everything. What are the white crystals in ham? The white crystals found in cured ham are usually made from tyrosine. This is not an artificial ingredient, nor is it something added by the producer. It is already connected to the...

Some family businesses are born with big announcements, polished branding, and a plan to grow fast. La Prudencia was not one of them. Its story began in a much quieter way. A man, a mule cart, mountain roads, and the kind of work that depended more on patience than publicity. That man was Prudencio Benito, the founder of La Prudencia, a ham house founded in 1910 that has since become one of Spain's most respected names in premium jamón. Today, the company sells its products in more than 40 countries and has earned a strong reputation in luxury food circles, especially abroad. But at its heart, La Prudencia is still a family story. The Benito family remains closely involved in the business, and the company's roots are still in Villacastín, Segovia, a town known for its dry mountain air and long tradition of cured meats. That mix of old craft and modern ambition is what makes La Prudencia interesting. It is not simply selling ham. It is selling time, family memory, and a very Sp...