jamón ibérico is the highest quality and most expensive type of Spanish ham. It is usually divided into four labels, ordered ...

One website already advertises a pre-order special of $1,795 for a 5J ham. Breeds and acorns Iberico designates a breed of pig -- more about that later. The next important bit of label lingo is be ...

Jamón ibérico, Spain’s iconic ham, is one of the great ... Within that there are four labels: black, red, green and white, in descending order of prestige. Green label is a cross-breed fed ...

There are four grades of ham, each of which is strictly controlled, recorded and marked. To receive the coveted black label marked '100 ... Cecilio believes Iberico pigs have a pretty good life.

many ham producers in Spain crossbreed them. Cinco Jotas uses only 100 percent Iberian pigs, making it one of the few jamón-producing companies in Spain that gets the black label designation.

Once farmer González Nieto’s pigs reach maturity here in the Sierra Morena, she sells them to Cinco Jotas, one of the few ham producers in Spain that makes only black-label Ibérico.

(In Spain, the same ham would cost 600 euros, or about $650, García said.) Only free-roaming, acorn-fed, full-blooded Ibérico pigs earn the coveted black label. The Food and Drug Administration ...

Iberico ham, or jamón ibérico ... These pigs, distinguishable by their black skin and slender limbs, are the source of the ham’s signature flavor. What sets them apart is their ability ...

The pigs reared by Cinco Jotas will eventually become Jamon Iberico, a prized Spanish ham ... and texture associated with the black-label ham. At Cinco Jotas, this is a big concern; oak trees ...