Presunto de Melgaço

Appearance & taste

The ham has a long, extended cut with the rind, in which the hoof is kept. When cut it is firm and reddish to deep red, evenly and glossily coloured, with yellowish white, glossy fat and little fat in the muscle.

It has an intense aroma, and the fat smells balsamic. The texture is moderately juicy, firm and tender, slightly fibrous and dry. The taste is very intense, slightly sour, only a little sweetish, moderately salty and slightly smoky. It is sold whole, sliced or in pieces; the label bears the statement “Presunto de Melgaço — Indicação Geográfica Protegida” and the logo of the ham.

Production

Fresh legs of more than 10 kg from purebred Bísaro pigs or their crosses are used. Male animals are castrated before the fourth week of life; slaughter takes place at a live weight of at least 110 kg and at 32 weeks at the earliest.

The legs are trimmed, massaged and salted with pure sea salt. Salting takes 11 to 21 days depending on weight; this gives the ham its moderately salty taste. It is then dried and smoked over dry, non-resinous wood of oak, broom, birch, heather and Spanish broom. How long depends on the dryness of the wood and the amount of smoke. After smoking, the ham is coated with a paste of olive oil and hot paprika as a water-repellent protective layer, and then it ripens. All steps from trimming to ripening and storage take place in the area.

Origin & history

The area comprises the municipality of Melgaço with all its parishes, including Castro Laboreiro, Fiães, Remoães and Vila. The microclimate is determined by the terrain, with long, cold and dry winters and short, hot summers; the mean minimum temperature does not rise above 11 °C. Oaks, birches and broom are considered typical plants of this microclimate, and Spanish broom and heather are native there.

Besides small fields for their own needs, the inhabitants kept domestic animals such as the Bísaro pig. Because the municipality lay far from the large centres of production and consumption, people concentrated on salting, drying and smoking pork; the knowledge of this is still passed on today.

According to the specification, hams from Melgaço were part of the rent for the monastery of Fiães in 1483 and, after a decree of 1513, part of the dues to King Manuel I. Father António Carvalho da Costa praised the hams from Vale da Folia, today’s Remoães, in 1706, and Silvestre Bernardo Lima wrote in 1860 that the hams of Melgaço came from the Bísaro pig. Augusto Pinho Leal reported in 1875 on exports to the whole kingdom and to Brazil, José Augusto Vieira in 1886 on a lively trade with Galicia. In 1932 the yearbook of the district of Viana do Castelo called the hams famous and known under the name “Presunto de Melgaço”.