PARMA: NICE TO MEET YOU!

Pork, salt & the Marino wind. Just 3 simple ingredients are what our Master Charcutiers need to craft an exquisite prosciutto. Our secret? Our plant located in Pratopiano, the perfect setting where to patiently wait for the slow, natural, and careful maturing and ageing of our prosciutto.
 

A VIRTUOUS & MORE SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN

HOW DO WE SELECT OUR BREEDING FARMS?

We partner only with a few selected pig farmers: only those who, like us, are devoted to promoting sustainability at all levels and strive to reduce their impact on the environment. We favor those who make an intense effort to implement sustainability in all its aspects, both environmental and economic sustainability: for that reason, we get our meat exclusively from farmers who adopt green energy and are devoted to circular economy.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST RAW MATERIAL?

For the preparation of the genuine Prosciutto di Parma PDO, the raw material selection is key. We select only high-quality legs obtained from pigs born, reared, slaughtered, and cut in the PDO production area. The only approved genetic breed are those heavy pigs such as Large White, Landrance, and Duroc, reared in Italy, at least 9 months old and with a slaughtering weight of 160 Kg (353 lb.).

HOW ARE THEY FED?

We choose only pigs from the specified breeds included in the Italian Herd Book, for the production of heavy pigs. Their diet is very rigorously controlled and follow strict regulations controlled by the Prosciutto di Parma Consortium. Corn, barley, and milk whey byproduct of the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese production: those nutriments contribute to make our Prosciutto di Parma PDO so delightfully sweet and mild.

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE LAND?

We process the fresh pig legs, mature, and age every single prosciutto in our plant in Pratopiano: it is here where there’s the perfect microclimate that imparts to our Prosciutto di Parma its unmistakable sweetness.

OUR MASTER SEASONERS’ SECRETS

PHASE 1 – Careful temperatures control

After slaughtering, the leg is then separated from the side and taken to special cold rooms to rest for 24 hours: that will allow the leg to reach an even temperature of 32F throughout.

PHASE 2 – An Unmistakable Shape

This phase is called trimming which means removing fat and rind to allow an even salt penetration and to impart to our prosciutto its typical round shape.

PHASE 3 – One Ingredient Only: Salt!

Salting is the actual beginning of the product’s curing phase. After massaging the legs with salt, we let them rest for 7 days in this cold room – this is the so called ‘first salt phase’, then they are cleaned of residual salt and covered with salt again, we let them rest again for about 18 days: this phase is the so called ripasso or the ‘second salt phase’.

PHASE 4 – A Slow and Patient Ritual

After a pre-resting phase, each prosciutto is placed in resting cold rooms for 80 days. During this phase the absorbed salt penetrates deeply and distribute evenly within the muscles.

PHASE 5 – The Art of Smearing

The smearing process has the function of softening the surface muscle layers, preventing them from drying out too quickly compared to the internal ones and preventing further moisture loss. The smearing agent is a blend of salt, pork fat, pepper, and rice flour. We still do it by hand!

PHASE 6 – The Marino Wind Blows in Pratopiano

After 7 months, we move them to the cellar where each of our Prosciutto di Parma matures naturally for at least 12 months, soothed by the lulling sound of the mythical Marino wind blowing.

PHASE 7 – The Fibula’s Proof

This operation consists in using a special needle, made of a horse fibula bone, which is inserted in various points of the Prosciutto, and which releases the product’s aroma, when sniffed by our expert olfactory Masters, to establish how the maturation phase is going. An ancient method carried out with skills of a true Maestro.

The Marino Wind

The Marino wind is a dry, moist, tepid breeze that blows from nearest Tyrrhenian Sea, crossing the Apennines inland toward the hills of Pratopiano: We open all our cellar’s doors to let it in, our Master Charcutiers welcome it and let it caress each of our Prosciutto that is resting and maturing: That is the secret of the unmistakable sweet saltiness of Prosciutto di Parma DOP: is the Marino wind, it’s all about it.