Ham in the cellar

Does anyone keep a ham - a jamon serrano or a prosciutto di parma - in their wine cellar for snacks? It seems like it would be a great addition even if you could only keep it for a few weeks at a time.

Yes.

Have had several Jamon Iberico and Mangalista hams, both boneless and bone-in, stored for months without issue. Just use cling wrap to cover the exposed surface.

I normally keep some fair survival rations, in all three sectors of My country wine cellar, if somebody should lose orientation, and choose to wait for the help next day.

I’m afraid, adding the salty hams, could make some people stay over on purpose, with all the old sweet sherrys and so…

But it could be done, I suppose, as the producers do in Italy and Spain.

-Soren.

Thanks Bill. Seemed like a simple enough of a question.

Yes. I kept some pata negra (sealed in plastic) in my cellar for quite a while. Some penicillin looking white stuff formed on the outer skin of the ham, but it was easily wiped off.

White is good. Green or black is bad.

I have kept Serrano in my cellar for over a year with no problems. Just wrap it well with cling wrap. As a matter of fact, I think I want to purchase another one soon. The first one was a gift from one of my girls.

Cheers!
Marshall

Marshall, I would highly recommend this one from Costco. Have had three so far, and they are spectacular and every bit the equal of Jamon Iberico de Bellota.

http://www.costco.com/D-Artagnan-Spanish-Mangalica-Dry-cured-Boneless-Ham.product.11679089.html

Besides Costco where does everyone buy their ham?

A famous ham producer in France ages his hams in the cellars of wine producers (often famous ones).

This is brilliant and wanted to do it as soon as I read this thread. Mentioned it to my wife and it would be an understatement to say she was not on board. “You’re going to put a hunk of rotting meat in there?”

Not rotting, honey. It has been salt cured for years.

Not rotting per se, but there was enzymatic action that occurs during the salt cure, even some very slow bacterial action, but I don’t know how much continues after the aging process. Just saying a salt cure doesn’t preclude decomposition, it’s just a different level of conversion, proteins into glutamates and other tasty flavor compounds.

Either way I think I’m just going to say sorry after getting one.