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“Del cerdo me gustan hasta los andares” means something like: “I like everything from the pig, even the way it goes.” This saying expresses the Spaniards’ love of pork very well. The most popular pork product is raw ham, which is produced in roughly the same way throughout Spain. The leg of ham is first bled, then salted and stored for around 2 weeks, covered in salt. When the meat is drained of blood, the ham is rinsed and hung in an airy place to dry. The length of the curing time has an effect on the flavour, but also on the price. After all, Jamón ibérico de bellota costs around 11 euros for 100g. There are two different types of ham: Jamón serrano (mountain ham) and Jamón ibérico (Iberian ham). Jamón serrano is made from the meat of intensively fattened white pigs. As the pigs in Holland and Belgium are heavier than the local ones, pork legs from these countries are often used.

The ham must be air-dried for at least 12 months. It must also come from the factory of a member of the Consorcio del Jamón Serrano. This means that the meat is subject to very strict quality requirements. Jamón ibérico is made from the meat of black, free-range pigs of the Iberian breed, most of which are native to western Andalusia, Extremadura and western Castile. They feed mainly on herbs, grasses and acorns from the dehesa (holm and cork oak forest). Pienso, dry cattle feed made from grain, can be given as supplementary food. This special food gives the meat its incomparable, nutty flavour. It has an abundant fat marbling, also known as marbling.

The high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, whose characteristics are similar to those of olive oil, has earned it the name “olive on four legs”. Jamón ibérico also produces the ham known as pata negra (black foot) or jamón de bellota (acorn-fed ham). This has undergone a curing process of around two years, some varieties even 30 months. Apart from the highest, the pure acorn grade “de bellota”, there are two sub-grades: “de recebo” and “de cebo”. This designation applies to pigs that have also received other feed. If you want to buy a whole ham, you have the choice between a hind leg, the jamón, and a front leg, the paleta, which is smaller but juicier.

Jerez is the Spanish term for sherry, named after the city of Jerez, where this wine is grown. The 23,000-hectare growing area in the province of Cádiz is also known as the Sherry Triangle: Jerez, Puerto de Santa Maria and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. The dry white wine is mainly made from the Palomino grape or Pedro Ximenez. The sherry produced from this grape only acquires its full, spicy flavour through the addition of a small amount of brandy, which is added after fermentation is complete (fortified). There are numerous varieties of sherry: from dry to full sweet, from light to dark, from moderately alcoholic to highly alcoholic. There are two basic types: the dry, straw-coloured Fino and the dark Oloroso. These are the starting point for numerous varieties that can be found on the market. The special thing about sherry is the ageing system: the solera system. In this process, young and old, matured sherry vintages are blended together over several years.

The system guarantees that a sherry of the same style is produced with every bottling. To prevent the death of the flor yeast due to the increase in alcohol content, younger wine with a lower alcohol content must be added to old barrels. In sherry bodegas, the barrels are stacked in three to five rows. The youngest wine is in the top row, the oldest in the bottom row. This is called the solera. Once or twice a year, around 20 to 30 per cent of the wine is taken from it for bottling. They are then topped up with wine from the row above, which in turn is blended with the corresponding proportion of criaderos, the younger wines. The flavour of the older wines is thus quickly absorbed.

Fino is the name given to the classic, dry sherry from the Jerez de la Frontera growing region. It is fermented like a normal white wine and placed in an oak barrel to mature. There, an ever-growing, grey-yellow flor yeast forms on the surface. It covers the entire wine so that it practically matures in the absence of air. The flor yeast leaves the characteristic flavour nuances of bitter almonds in the wine. Manzanilla is the name given to the more delicate fino variety from Sanlúcar de Barrameda. It retains its flavour due to the milder microclimate. Amontillado is a dry fino aged without flor yeast with a fine orange and hazelnut flavour. In the hot summer months, it can become warm in the above-ground storage facilities and this can lead to a breakdown of the flor yeast layer. The oxygen that reaches the wine in this way causes it to oxidise. As a result, it develops more body and takes on an amber colour.

This genuine Amontillado is rare and the breakdown of the flor yeast is often artificially induced by fortifying the fino to 16% by volume so that the yeast dies. It is then blended in the solera and sweetened with vinos dulces, sweet wines. Oloroso is also a sherry without flor yeast, as it is fortified to 18% by volume after fermentation to prevent the yeast from forming in the first place. It matures in contact with oxygen, giving it its dark caramel colour and aroma of dried fruit. Years of ageing in the solera cause liquid to evaporate, which in turn leads to an increase in alcohol content (up to over 23% by volume). Oloroso is a dry sherry by nature. Blended with sweet must, it becomes cream sherry. Other well-known sherry varieties are: Palo Cortado, Pale Cream, Manzanilla Pasada, Raya, PX (Pedro Ximénez).