Jambon noir de Bigorre

Appearance & taste

The ham is processed with the foot. It is cut round, the whole topside remains covered with a layer of fat, and half of the aitchbone is kept. After ripening it weighs at least 5 kg; above the head of the femur the fat is more than 30 mm thick. The lean meat is a strong red, the fat white, sometimes slightly pink. The ham contains less than 6 % salt and is marbled with around 4 %, but at least 2.5 %, intramuscular fat.

The lean meat is soft, the fat supple. The ham is mild and melting, lightly salted and not rancid, with an intense, long-lasting aroma. Its aromas recall dried fruit such as hazelnut and cashew, roasted chestnuts, undergrowth and mushrooms. It is available whole with the bone and foot, boned whole or in pieces, and sliced.

Production

The piglets are born in the area and during suckling receive, besides their mother’s milk, at most 5 kg of supplementary feed of cereals, soya and milk powder, which may come from outside. After weaning they eat feed that consists of at least 70 % cereals from the area. At six months at the latest the pigs go onto outdoor runs with at most 20 animals per hectare, where they eat grass, above all clover and grasses, fruit and other things from their surroundings. Supplementary feed is limited to at most 3 kg of dry matter per day, again mainly cereals from the area. Since the animals take in 5 to 6 kg per day, they find the rest on the run. In total at least 72.6 % of their food comes from the area. They are slaughtered at 12 to 24 months; the carcass weighs at least 100 kg.

According to the specification, with this diet the fat stores plant antioxidants that slow down rancidity and allow long ripening. The ham ripens for at least 12 months in a drying room connected to the outside air, and so passes through all the seasons. All steps from the birth of the piglets to ripening take place in the area, as do boning and slicing: this is adapted to each ham by trained specialists, and slicing and packaging take place within two hours of boning. Each ham bears on the rind the number of the slaughterhouse, a brand with the week and year of salting and, at the base of the foot, the branded seal “NB”.

Origin & history

The area comprises municipalities in the Hautes-Pyrénées, Haute-Garonne, Gers and Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments, from Tarbes and Lourdes to Saint-Gaudens. Slopes and valleys are cut into the sediments of the Pyrenees; the uneven relief, the mostly acidic soils and the many woods are suited to outdoor runs with grass and woodland. The Pyrenees hold back the clouds from the Atlantic, so the grass grows almost all year. In autumn and spring the foehn brings dry, mild wind about every third day, alternating with damp weather. According to the specification, this climate is decisive for drying: the dry phases form a crust, and in the damp ones the moisture inside and outside evens out.

Through centuries of selection by breeders, the Gascon pig has adapted to this environment: it walks a lot and tolerates changing weather and irregular feed. According to the specification, exercise on the run makes the muscles grow; the meat becomes more marbled and, through more myoglobin, a stronger red.