Cinco Jotas 5J jamón

How a five-year process makes this a top ham

Finally, each ham is pierced in four places and the aroma checked to ensure it has cured properly. The pay-off to this five-year process is the jamón’s exquisite flavour. The best way to eat it is at room temperature, on its own or with a little tomato-rubbed bread and a glass of fino. Leading Spanish chef José Pizarro serves only Cinco Jotas in his restaurants, and his team are specially trained at CJ’S HQ in Jabugo to carve it into delicate slices that emphasise its sweet flavour, nutty aroma and perfectlymarbled texture.

At home, a good entry-level is the acorn-fed shoulder ham £9 (40g), available online at cincojotas.co.uk.

Serious foodies will soon be adding a whole leg and carving stand to their wish list, along with lessons in how to carve it. Are these the happiest pigs in the world? The 100% Iberico pigs native to south-west Spain live in the dehesa (forest) enjoying an abundant diet of acorns from holm and cork oak trees. Recognisable by their dark, even skin, floppy ears and black hooves, they roam freely, covering up to 14 kilometres a day in search of the acorns. It’s these – along with wild mushrooms and herbs – that give the jamón its unctuous fatty texture and distinct nuttiness. Following the traditional methods Cinco Jotas has been employing for 130 years, the pigs live for up to 24 blissful months before the meat is profiled (the process by which the outer fat is removed), salted, cured and cellared for up to three years. The effect of the temperature and humidity on each ham is constantly monitored by the cellar master.