Regulations and the Quality of Serrano Ham
Serrano ham is one of Spain's most widely-eaten foods and the product that most clearly announces the country's national cuisine on the world stage. In themselves these are already good reasons to protect the market and ensure the quality of Serrano ham.
But because everyone associates the name with quality, there are always those willing to misuse it, unscrupulous producers trading on the implications of a name they have no right to use to seal an inferior product. Consumers have a right to be protected from this.
With these issues in mind, in 1992 the European Union created a system to monitor and certify the most important agricultural and food products from member countries. They created several labels that would identify products that had been produced and processed according to strict regulations to ensure quality and make sure that products being sold as the results of traditional processes really were what they said they were.
The name of Serrano ham is one of the products that is protected by these regulations, being recognized under the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) scheme since 1998. This certification does not protect the origin of products as a DOP designation does but it does require certain techniques of rearing, production and processing. Any Serrano ham you see has to comply with these rules.
The regulations state that Spanish ham should be drawn from the hind legs of pigs only - meat from their forelegs is called "shoulder" - and should follow a set of guidelines concerning slaughter and butchering practices.
Pork should have a traceable provenance and the feeding regime should be wild pasture and grain. Weights, times of breedings and a minimum pre-slaughter fattening period are also stipulated. If a ham is to be labelled Serrano ham, it must also comply with regulations on its curing environment.
These regulations, decreed in 1998 by the Ministry of Agriculture, establish strict quality standards for Serrano ham. For example, a ham must weigh no less than 9.2kg, the thickness of its outer layer of fat must not exceed 0.8cm and the curing period must be no less than 210 days in a low-humidity environment.
Once the drying and curing process is complete the Spanish ham is ready for consumption, but rules apply here too. Serrano ham must present a pinky-violet appearances, neither too dark nor too light, and bright fat and a juicy texture. Quality hams don't require much salt so a delicate flavor with relatively little salt is also a mark of quality.
To ensure that the legislation is effective, producers must keep documentation that tracks pigs from birth through to retail, and only after being checked and audited by the authorities is the coveted TSG certification given, guaranteeing the quality of Serrano ham.
However, in addition to the TSG mark there is another scheme that guarantees the quality of ham to an even higher standard. This is the Protected Denomination of Origin (DOP) scheme, which in the case of Serrano ham requires that the ham come from either the Trévelez or the Teruel regions.
There is currently a campaign underway to put some Spanish hams under the Protected Geographic Origin (IGP) umbrella, particularly the famous Seron ham. Finally, an ecological label is awarded to hams produced in a way that is environmentally caring and fed a special, strictly-controlled ecological diet.
All these schemes have one thing in common: they all seek to protect producers of Serrano ham from unfair competition and to make sure consumers have honest information about what they're buying. That way,when you see the name Serrano ham, you know exactly what it is!
Alles über spanischen Schinken
Inhalt
- 1 Die verschiedenen Arten des Pata Negra Schinkens
- 2 Wie solllte man einen Pata Negra Schinken verzehren
- 3 Das Schneiden von Pata Negra Schinken
- 4 Den Pata Negra Schinken richtig aufbewahren
- 5 Die ideale Mariage zu Pata Negra Schinken aus Eichelmast
- 6 Gesetz über die Qualität von Pata Negra Schinken
- 7 La Dehesa oder der Eichelhain
- 8 Die geschützten Herkunftsbezeichnungen des Pata Negra Schinkens
- 9 Nährwerteigenschaften des Pata Negra Schinkens
- 10 Rezepte mit Pata Negra Schinken
- 11 Der Unterschied zwischen Pata Negra Schinken und Serrano Schinken
- 12 Der Unterschied zwischen Pata Negra Vorder- und Hinterschinken
- 13 Der Unterschied zwischen Pata Negra Schinken und Serrano Schinken
- 14 Der Pata Negra Schinken und seine weltweiten Konkurrenten
- 15 Die Nährwerteigenschaften des Pata Negra Schinkens
- 16 Geschützte Herkunftsbezeichnung des Pata Negra Schinkens
- 17 Herstellungsgebiete des spanischen Schinckens und Pata Negra Schinkens
- 18 Pata Negra Schinken von Hand geschnitten oder maschinengeschnitten
- 19 Pata Negra Schinkenmuseen in der ganzen Welt
- 20 Die Verkostung von Pata Negra Schinken - alle Geheimnisse hier
- 21 Die Reiseroute des Pata Negra Schinkens
- 22 Die ideale Mariage zu Pata Negra Schinken aus Eichelmast
- 23 Die Herstellungsweise von Pata Negra Wurstwaren
- 24 Die Geschichte der Pata Negra Wurstwaren
- 25 Die Mehrwertsteuer auf spanischen Schinken: Fragen und Antworten
- 26 Der spanische Schinken in der Literatur
- 27 Aussergewöhnliches über Pata Negra Schinken
- 28 Serrano Schinken richtig aufbewahren
- 29 Die Qualitätsnorm des Serrano Schinkens
- 30 Die Herstellung von Serrano Schinken
- 31 Die Herkunftsbezeichnungen von Serrano Schinken
- 32 Die Nährwerteigenschaften von Serrano Schinken
- 33 Rezepte mit Serrano Schinken
- 34 Serrano Schinken - welche Sorten gibt es
- 35 Die ideale Mariage zu Serrano Schinken
- 36 Wie sollte Serrano Schinken richtig verzehrt werden
- 37 Wie schneidet man Serrano Schinken richtig
- 38 Das, was Sie schon immer über dir Verkostung von Pata Negra Schinken wissen wollten
- 39 Wie wählt man einen guten Schinkenhalter aus
- 40 Welcher Pata Negra Schinken ist der beste?
- 41 Ist der Begriff Pata Negra Schinken korrekt?
- 42 Pata Negra Schinken und der Eichelhain (Dehesa)
- 43 Los secretos del maridaje del jamón pata negra
- 44 Welchen Schinken sollte man am besten kaufen?
- 45 Warum ist guter Schinken so teuer?
- 46 Wie kauft man Schinken in Online-Shops?
- 47 Mythos und Realität, Vorteile und Vorurteile über Schinken
- 48 Macht Pata Negra Schinken dick?
- 49 Was machen wir mit dem Schinkenknochen?
- 50 Warum hängen Schinken von der Decke?
- 51 Schinken in der Schwangerschaft: Ist Pata Negra Schinken in der Schwangerschaft erlaubt?
- 52 Wie trägt Schinken zu Wachstum und Entwicklung des Kindes bei?
- 53 Tipps zur richtigen Aufbewahrung von Schinken
- 54 Formgebung von Schinken - Was ist das genau?
- 55 Neue Technologien bei der Verkostung von Schinken – Magnetresonanz und elektromagnetisches Spektrum
- 56 Das Pata Negra Schwein wandert aus
- 57 Wurstwaren: Ursprung, Zusammensetzung und Klassifizierung
- 58 Herstellung von Vorder- und Hinterschinken, erster Teil
- 59 Leitfaden zur Degustation von Pata Negra Schinken