Prosciutto di Parma DOP
Parma ham
Italy's most exported cured ham: a raw, salt-cured leg from heavy Italian pigs, matured a minimum of 14 months in the hill air south of Parma. Nothing but pork and sea salt goes into it, with no nitrates, nitrites or preservatives permitted, and only hams that pass the final inspection are fire-branded with the five-pointed ducal crown.
Designation
- Certification
- DOP
- Category
- Meat products (cooked, salted, smoked)
- Registered
- 1996 (Reg. CE n. 1107 del 12.06.96)
- Consortium
- Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma
Where it is made
Province of Parma, south of the via Emilia and no less than 5 km from it, up to 900 m altitude, bounded east by the river Enza and west by the Stirone torrent. All curing, slicing and packing must happen inside that zone.
How it is made
The whole ham weighs 8.2 to 12.5 kg finished, is trimmed to its characteristic rounded shape with the trotter removed, salted, rested, washed and dried, then aged at least 14 months counted from first salting. Legs come only from pigs born, raised and slaughtered in eleven listed Italian regions, and every stage from breeding to slicing is documented input-by-output for traceability.