Presunto de Barrancos

Appearance & taste

The ham is cut long and extended and shaped at the end or tip according to the traditional cut, the shoulder ham is rounded. Both keep the rind, and the foot with the hoof always stays on so that they can be recognised. After ripening, a ham weighs at least 5 kg, a shoulder ham at least 3 kg.

The colour ranges from pink to deep red, and when cut, the muscle is streaked with fat. According to the specification, this marbling goes back to the genetic make-up of the Alentejana breed. The taste is mild and delicate, only slightly salty, sometimes with a slightly piquant, delicate and juicy aftertaste. The meat has a slightly fibrous texture and is very soft. The fat has a whitish, pearly sheen and is aromatic; its consistency depends on how many acorns the animal has eaten.

Both are sold whole or in pieces, on or off the bone, or in slices. The label reads “Presunto de Barrancos — protected designation of origin” or “Paleta de Barrancos — protected designation of origin”.

Production

The pigs of the Alentejana breed are born, reared, fattened and slaughtered in the production area. The piglets drink their mother’s milk for at least 45 days, which may be supplemented with compound feed. In the growth phase of more than 8.5 months, which ends in September or October, they eat cereals, concentrates, stubble and pasture from the area. This is followed by acorn fattening: for at least 60 days the animals roam freely in the oak woodland and feed only on grasses and acorns of holm and cork oaks, normally between October/November and January/February.

Fresh legs of more than 6 kg and fresh forelegs of more than 4 kg are used. They are salted, dried and matured, but not smoked. The ham dries and matures for at least 6 months and then ages in cellars for at least 6 months, the shoulder ham for at least 4 months each. In the summer heat the pieces begin to “sweat”; according to the specification, this carries the oleic acid into the muscle fibres and gives the whole piece aroma, juiciness and tenderness.

Origin & history

The pigs come from municipalities of the Alentejo such as Portalegre, Évora, Beja, Serpa and Barrancos, where holm and cork oak woodland predominates. According to the specification, this wood pasture on gently rolling, stony and not very fertile soils is an ecosystem unique in the world. In the west, under the influence of the Atlantic, the cork oak predominates, in the east the holm oak.

Drying and maturing take place only in the municipality of Barrancos. It lies at 350 m near the Serra Morena and the rivers Ardila and Murtigão. North-westerly and westerly winds blow, and the average annual humidity is 70 %; in July and August the temperature rises to 38 to 40 °C, in December and January it falls to 3 to 5 °C. This microclimate makes it possible to dry the hams without smoking, unlike, according to the specification, in Portugal’s other ham areas. The process is based on traditional methods that have remained practically unchanged since time immemorial.