In the category of Spanish Jamon, We are pleased to offer the Palacios Black Label Jamon Serrano & the Fermin Pata Negra Jamon Iberico, both 18 Month Reservas. From America we are serving The Heath Putnam/Johnson County Mangalitsa Jamon 18 month Reserve Jamon. They cost a pretty penny but you get what you pay for in all these hand-crafted cured meats. All this may sound confusing but when you taste the Jamon Serrano, then its duskier, more marbled ancestors the Mangalitsa and the Iberico Pata Negra, you will discern a deeper, nuttier flavor from the older, more pastured, and forage-fed wooly hogs that are derivations of the ancient arboreal hogs of the Iberian peninsula. Why should you care? well it really is a matter of taste but also very tradition-driven as all three are produced from ancient practices of selection, feeding, curing and aging. The physical environment is also very important. The feed selection and forage allowed, along with aging before slaughter produces richer, more marbled meat higher in beneficial monounsaturated fats, lipids, oleic & linoleic acids, b vitamins, mineral like zinc and iron & Omega threes. much like wines these cured meats reflect the land they come from, the dry aging and marbling analogous to old vines with their complex flavor profiles & austere minerality, the nutty ripeness more like mature cheeses in that bacterial transformations take place in caves, barns, basements and aging environments. this is minimalist food at its best - tied to a place - and should be enjoyed with the dry, light sherries of Andalucia, and the ruby-throated wines of Espana from Ribera del Duero, Rioja Alta and Mencia, or just a glass of sangria in a pinch.