Description
The Jambon de Bayonne PGI is a ham made of trimmed pork's leg, dry salted with salt coming from the Adour basin salt pans and ripened for over seven months.
Production Area
The production area of Jambon de Bayonne PGI is in the departments within the Aquitaine, Midi-Pyrenees, Poitou-Charentes regions and the following neighbouring departments: Haute-Vienne, Corrèze, Cantal, Aude, and Pyrénées-Orientales, in the Limousin and the Languedoc-Roussillon regions. The pork transformation takes place in the area southwest of the Adour River, including the adjacent cantons; it includes the department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and part of the departments of the Hautes-Pyrénées, Landes and Gers.
Production Method
The pigs used for the production are fed with food containing at least 60% of cereals. During the slaughtering-sectioning, fresh hams are selected based on a minimum weight of 8.5 kg, on the absence of apparent blemishes and the meat and lard quality. Subsequently, the transformation phase begins, with salting, ripening and refinement for a minimum period of seven months, counting from the salting date. During maturation and ripening, the ham develops its typical aroma and acquires its softness.
Appearance and Flavour
The Jambon de Bayonne PGI has a delicate and not very salty taste. It tends to melt in the mouth if cut into thin slices.
History
The production of Jambon de Bayonne PGI, which still takes place following the traditional farm worker method, has become famous thanks to the trading in Bayonne already in the 16th century. For five centuries, every Holy Thursday preceding Easter, Bayonne hosts the ham fair for three days. This fair attracts tradesmen, farmers and visitors from the entire territory. Today the Jambon de Bayonne PGI has a strong reputation, also confirmed by its vast geographic production area.
Gastronomy
To preserve the Jambon de Bayonne PGI well, it is necessary to grease the exposed part of the boned ham, and then wrap it with a length of cloth or with aluminium foil and replace it in the less cold part of the refrigerator, where it can be kept up to two months. The ham on the bone can be kept in the same way; alternatively, it can be hung in a bag of cloth in a cool environment with a temperature between 10 and 14°C. This ham is perfect raw, hand-sliced or well roasted in a frying pan, as per the countryside custom, served with country bread and local butter. It is particularly good as appetizer, simply sliced and served, and can also be used as filling for the baguette, the typical French bread. Furthermore, it is also used for the cooking of roasts and to stuff birds cooked in the oven or in the saucepan.
Marketing
The product is sold as Jambon de Bayonne PGI. It is sold whole, boned or on the bone, in vacuumpacked pieces or in trays used for food, pre-sliced and preserved in a conditioned environment. The packages carry the inscription Séché et affiné dans le basin de l'Adour.
Distinctive Features
The characteristics of the Jambon de Bayonne PGI are strictly linked to the local tradition, which was able to best exploit the favourable climate of the Adour basin and the rock salt deposits of the area. And it is precisely the natural salt of the Adour region, which has been building up naturally for two hundred million years, when the sea occupied a large part of southern Aquitaine, which confers this product its exceptional taste.
