On many occasions you may have wondered what is the difference between A type of ham and another. Do you know which varieties are there? What type of ham should make for a special occasion? How do I destinguish them?

If the time has come that you have to go to the store or the butcher’s and you may wonder which ham to buy. Do I buy iberian or not? Also something that you know you should be asking is for what situation you need it for. For example, is not the same use serrano ham for a snack than for a Christmas dinner. The situation will advise you by itself the type of ham that best fits your needs. And before this, let’s look at the differences between them.
The iberian ham comes from the Iberian pig, a species that has been selected to take advantage of the medium on which it feeds. This pig has at the same time a great capacity to accumulate fat under the skin and infiltrate it under the muscles, this is what gives the characteristic white vein. Normally these pigs are black in color, they are known as “pata negra ham” (black feet ham), but there is also the possibility of finding an iberian ham of pale feet.
>Varieties of the Iberian ham (depends on the food consumed by the animal):

• Acorn: comes from the Iberian pig that is fed of acorns and grasses
• of porks: acorn-fed, feed and pasture.
• Bait: it has its origin in that pig that was fed to grass and natural feed.
• Field of bait: it comes from the pigs fed by natural pasture land and feed in the open air.

And on the other hand, we have the ham white varieties one of the most widely consumed because the price is cheaper. This group encompasses all those hams that do not come from the Iberian pig but of white pigs. Within the ham white we can distinguish between:

• “Serrano” ham; has its origin in the white layer of pigs reared in intensive regime generally, fed with feed containing a high percentage of cereals and with a minimum time of treatment of 7 months, reaching, according to marks up to 24 months.
• Cured ham: is also derived from pigs of white coat usually reared in intensive regime, fed with feed, which also have a high percentage of cereals.

To differentiate these two types of hams with enough to pay attention to the label indicating the product category as well as quality assurance. Also, certificates for quality we can find other quality certificates depending on the denominations of origin.