How Parma Ham is made

The hams are made from the rear haunches of the pig; four ingredients are essential to the production of Parma Ham: Italian pigs, salt, air and time. Parma Ham is an all-natural ham; additives such as sugar, spices, smoke, water and nitrites are prohibited. Making a Parma ham is a long and painstaking process. The curing is controlled carefully so that the ham absorbs only enough salt to preserve it. By the end, a trimmed ham will have lost more than a quarter of its weight through moisture loss, helping to concentrate the flavour. The meat becomes tender and the distinctive aroma and flavour of Parma Ham emerge.

Key Production Steps:

Trimming: At the processing plant some skin and fat are removed to give the ham its typical “chicken drumstick” shape.

Salting: A highly trained maestro salatore, or salt master, rubs sea salt into the meat, which is then refrigerated at 80% humidity for about a week. Residual salt is removed and the ham gets a second thin coating of salt, which is left on another 15 to 18 days, depending on weight. By making daily adjustments in temperature and humidity, the maestro ensures that the legs absorb just enough salt to cure them—thereby preserving Parma Ham’s reputation as a “sweet ham”.

Resting: Next the hams hang for 70 days in refrigerated, humidity-controlled rooms, at 65% humidity. The meat darkens but will return to its original rosy colour in the final days of curing.

Washing and Drying: The hams are washed with warm water and brushed to remove excess salt, then hung in drying rooms.

Initial Curing: Now the hams are hung on frames in well ventilated rooms with large windows that are opened when the outside temperature and humidity are favourable. Connoisseurs believe that this period, when the hams are bathed in aromatic breezes, is critical to the development of Parma Ham’s distinctive flavour. By the end of this phase, which lasts about three months, the exposed surface of the meat has dried and hardened.

Greasing: the exposed surfaces of the hams are softened with a paste of minced lard and salt.

Final Curing: The hams are moved to dark, cellar-like rooms and hang on racks until the curing is completed. The hams are cured at least 1 year, and some are cured as long as 30 months.

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