Prosciutto di Parma

Prosciutto di Parma is a dry-cured raw ham produced exclusively in the hills south of Parma, in Emilia-Romagna. Its ingredient list has two entries: pork leg and sea salt. Nothing is smoked, nothing is injected, and no nitrates or nitrites are permitted, a rarity among cured meats sold in the US and UK.

It has held DOP status since 1996; the producers' Consorzio dates to 1963 and Italian legal protection to 1970. A finished bone-in ham weighs 9 to 11 kilos, having lost about a quarter of its green weight to evaporation.

The pigs are Large White, Landrace and Duroc, born and raised in eleven regions of central and northern Italy, slaughtered at a minimum of nine months and 150 kilos. Part of their feed is whey left over from making Parmigiano Reggiano: the two most famous products of the region are literally linked by the same milk.

Sweet before salty, which surprises people who know Spanish or American cured hams. The first note is delicate and almost milky, then a slow savoury build, then a nutty finish that lingers longer than the bite lasted. There is no smoke and no sugar cure, so nothing masks the meat.

The texture is the other half of the story. A properly cut slice is silky and slightly moist, and the ribbon of fat along the edge melts at body temperature: it should dissolve on the tongue rather than chew. That fat is where most of the aroma lives, which is why removing it is a mistake.

Longer ageing shifts the balance. At 18 months it is soft and gentle; at 24 to 30 months it turns denser and more concentrated, with small crunchy white specks of tyrosine crystals and a flavour closer to aged cheese.

Serve it at room temperature: out of the fridge twenty to thirty minutes before eating. Cold prosciutto tastes of almost nothing, because the fat that carries the aroma has not softened.

Do not cook it for long. Heat drives off the fat and concentrates the salt, which is exactly what you paid to avoid. If it must meet heat, let it meet heat last: draped on a risotto after mantecatura, laid on a pizza the moment it leaves the oven, wrapped around asparagus after roasting.

The classic pairings are classic because they work: melon, ripe figs, good butter and bread, or Parma's own version, hot fried dough (torta fritta or gnocco fritto) with the slices laid over so they warm and go translucent.

Buy it sliced to order if you can, and eat it the same day. Ask for it cut thin enough to be flexible but not transparent; slices that tear are cut wrong.

A whole started ham stays in a cool, dry room rather than the fridge, its cut face covered with greaseproof paper and the trimmed fat cap laid back over it. Take a thin slice off the face before each session, because the exposed edge dries and darkens within a day. A ham once opened is normally worked through over a few weeks, and it keeps losing water the whole time, so the last slices are drier and more concentrated than the first.

Sealed packs of pre sliced ham keep in the fridge to the date printed on them, and the usual instruction once opened is two days. Thin slices meet a great deal of air: the red fades towards orange at the edges and the fat picks up an oxidised smell. Ham sliced to order at a counter is the most delicate of all. Buy it for the same day, leave it in its paper, keep it on the least cold shelf and take it out half an hour before serving. Freezing costs texture: ice crystals break the fat structure and thawed slices come out watery and loose.

The five pointed ducal crown with the word PARMA is branded into the rind, and it is the only mark that settles the question. On a pre sliced pack or a boneless block the crown may not be visible, so look for the Consorzio logo printed on the packaging together with the number of the producing plant. In American delis, prosciutto on its own usually means a domestic ham, younger and distinctly saltier. In British shops Parma ham is the same product under its English name.

Cut, the lean is an even rosy red and the fat is pure white with a pink cast, never yellow. A band of fat about a centimetre wide should run along the edge, and trimming it away removes the part that carries the aroma. On long aged hams the tiny white crunchy specks are tyrosine crystals thrown out during ageing, not salt and not mould. A good slice is thin but not transparent and stands up on its own for a moment before folding. San Daniele, its usual neighbour on the counter, is sweeter and keeps the trotter attached.

In the US, Prosciutto di Parma is one of the easiest Italian DOP products to find. Whole Foods, Costco and most supermarket deli counters carry it; Eataly and Italian delis will slice it to order. Expect roughly 28 to 45 dollars per pound sliced at a counter, or 15 to 22 dollars per pound if you buy a whole boneless leg, which Costco has stocked seasonally.

In the UK, Waitrose, Ocado and Italian delicatessens carry it at about 45 to 70 pounds per kilo sliced, or 3.50 to 6 pounds for a 70-100 g pack. Borough Market and Lina Stores in London slice it fresh.

In Italy, 26 to 34 euros per kilo at 18 months, 38 to 48 at 24 to 30 months.

Whatever the country, check the pack for the Consorzio's five-pointed ducal crown and the wording Prosciutto di Parma DOP. 'Italian-style prosciutto' or plain 'prosciutto' means the protected name does not apply.

Langhirano, twenty minutes south of Parma, is the curing capital and holds the Festival del Prosciutto di Parma each September, including the 'Finestre Aperte' days when the curing houses open to visitors. It is the one time of year you can walk between the hanging rows.

In Parma itself, order it in a prosciutteria with torta fritta, puffed squares of fried dough, still hot, with the slices laid on top, and a glass of dry sparkling Malvasia dei Colli di Parma. It is an afternoon thing, eaten standing at the counter.

The Musei del Cibo network keeps a prosciutto museum at Langhirano and a salame museum at Felino, twenty minutes apart. Pair either with an early-morning Parmigiano Reggiano dairy visit: production starts around 6.30 am, and the whey that comes off it is what fed the pigs.