{"id":7337,"date":"2018-12-05T16:28:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T15:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moniberic.com\/diferencia-entre-jamon-blanco-y-jamon-iberico\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T09:38:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T08:38:29","slug":"differences-between-white-ham-and-iberian-ham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moniberic.com\/en\/differences-between-white-ham-and-iberian-ham\/","title":{"rendered":"Differences between white ham and Iberian ham"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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When we want to buy a ham, there are some aspects that we have to take into account; the first and most basic one is to know how to know the difference <\/strong>between a white ham and an Iberian ham<\/strong>. Do you know what their differences are? Today we will tell discover the main ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will start from the premise that 93% of the ham <\/strong>produced in our country is white ham <\/strong>compared to 7% <\/strong>which is Iberian ham<\/strong>. It is clear that in terms of volume, the white ham is the king.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a white ham?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a ham that comes from what is called a white coat pig <\/strong>(not Iberian), which is usually reared on farms <\/strong>and fed on cereal feed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The most commonly used breeds for these hams are: Duroc<\/strong>, Landrace<\/strong>, Large White <\/strong>and Pietrain<\/strong>. The hams can come from pigs that are 100% of one of these breeds or from pigs that are crosses of two breeds. Nowadays, for example, it is common to find 100% Duroc Hams. The Duroc breed is the one that has been used since 2001 for crosses with the Iberian pig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am sure you have also heard terms like \u201cjam<\/strong>\u00f3<\/strong>n serrano<\/strong>\u201c, \u201cjam<\/strong>\u00f3<\/strong>n DOP Teruel<\/strong>\u201d (Protected Denomination of Origin), \u201cjam<\/strong>\u00f3n curado<\/strong>\u201c, \u201cjam<\/strong>\u00f3<\/strong>n IGP Trev<\/strong>\u00e9lez <\/strong>or Ser<\/strong>\u00f3<\/strong>n<\/strong>\u201d (Protected Geographical Indication), etc. These are some of the varieties that we can find inside the white ham<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White hams may also include the following mentions provided that they comply with the minimum production period established:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013    Bodega or Cava Ham<\/strong>: 9 months of curing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013    Reserva or A<\/strong>\u00f1<\/strong>ejo Ham<\/strong>: 12 months of curing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013    Gran Reserva Ham<\/strong>: 15 months of curing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are the hams that we are used to seeing and that we consume most often. Their cures go from 7 to 16 months<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is an Iberian ham?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We have said that in the case of white hams, they come from a white-coated pig; in the case of Iberian hams, they come from 100% Iberian pigs <\/strong>or from pigs crossed <\/strong>between Iberian and Duroc pigs (75% or 50% Iberian). Within the Iberian pig we can find varieties such as the \u201cretinto<\/strong>\u201c, \u201crubio andaluz<\/strong>\u201c, \u201clampi<\/strong>\u00f1<\/strong>o<\/strong>\u201c, \u201centrepelado<\/strong>\u201c, \u201cmanchado <\/strong>de Jabugo<\/strong>\u201d or \u201ctorbiscal<\/strong>\u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The breed is one of the main differences but, in addition, their type of <\/strong>diet <\/strong>and how <\/strong>they are <\/strong>raised <\/strong>will also determine the type of each ham<\/strong>. In the Iberian ham, the feeding can be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBellota<\/strong>\u201d(Acorn): it comes from an Iberian pig raised in freedom <\/strong>in the dehesas <\/em><\/strong>and that in its last months of fattening has been fed on acorns <\/strong>and natural pastures<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCebo de Campo<\/strong>\u201c: it comes from an Iberian pig raised in open air farms<\/strong>, which has been fed on natural pastures and feed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCebo<\/strong>\u201c: it comes from an Iberian pig that has been raised on farms <\/strong>and whose food is based on cereal and <\/strong>legume<\/strong>feed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its elaboration process requires from 20 to 36 months <\/strong>depending on the type of ham and weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Iberian ham <\/strong>we find 9 different kinds of hams if we take into account the Iberian regulation. We have 4 coloured plastic seals <\/strong>on the Iberian ham that can help us to differentiate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pieces of Iberian ham <\/strong>are usually more slender <\/strong>and narrower <\/strong>than those of white ham. It is one of the characteristics of the morphology of the Iberian pig. They also tend to contain a higher proportion of fat, both infiltrated in the lean meat and spread on the outside, when compared to a white ham. This aspect will make us have a lower performance of the piece (we will have a less amount of ham) but will provide very different flavors and aromas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White ham <\/strong>and Iberian ham <\/strong>are different products and this is how they should be understood. You need to know what each of them can bring you and how and when to enjoy them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we want to buy a ham, there are some aspects that we have to take into account; the first and most basic one is to know how to know the difference between a white ham and an Iberian ham. Do you know what their differences are? Today we will tell discover the main ones. We will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[526,395,397,613,532],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-curiosities-en","category-curiosities","category-iberian-ham","category-iberian-ham-en","category-shoulder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moniberic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moniberic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moniberic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moniberic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moniberic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moniberic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moniberic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moniberic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moniberic.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}