Whilst students do not themselves agree, the majority considers that the first pigs travelled to Spain with the Phoenicians. Once on the Iberian Peninsula, they mixed with native wild boars, producing the particular Iberian strains. Spaniards classify these differing native pig sub-species as: céltico trunk (Galician, the Victorian wineglass, lermeño of towns and batzán - Navarrese) and those of Iberian trunk (black lampiño of the Guadiana, the entrepelado black of the Cordovan valley of the Pedroches, the Balearic, the Murcian wineglass, the torbiscal, campiñesa, retinta and stained of Jabugo).
 Although most pig strains are bred for meat, several are also bred for their hide - to obtain smooth leather - and also their bristles for making brushes.
Pork is used to make:
- inlays
In creating inlay, a piece of pork is selected, generally perforated and seasoned with aromatic herbs and different spices (paprika (pimenton), pepper, garlic, rosemary, thyme, clove, ginger, nutmeg, et cetera) which are inserted under the skin of the gut. In modern industrial manufacture of these products, a type of artificial, edible gut is used. For the artisan or homemade producer of these products, a machine is used, which has a blade that pricks the meat and, in a second operation, inserts the seasonings into the pig gut skin . Cured inlays (garlic sausage, longaniza, salchichón and sobresada) or Spanish 'stews' exist, such as the blood sausage and androlla. In Uruguay and Peru, garlic sausage inlay is selected for fresh, light seasoning, and is consumed after cooking on live coals.
-jamón
Iberian Jamón is, as its name implies, produced from the original race of the Iberian Peninsula, which requires to be a minimum of 75% purity to obtain such denomination. This jamón is classified according to the feeding of the pig before slaughter:
-recebo jamón, which is initially fed with acorns, and also during the last months.
-bait jamón, when the Iberian pig has been fed with piensos.
-acorn jamón which has been fed predominantly with these.
Within these three types, a series of characteristics is strictly controlled by the regulating advice of the denomination of origin, thus naming the different types of Jamón.
Iberian Jamón montana is jamón of any other race of pig, called 'mountain' because it is cured in a mountain range climate, being dry and cold, also called jamón white, sometimes easily distinguishible by the color of its skin. There are those of Granada, of Salamanca, and many other regions, among them:
-jamón de Teruel. The only jamón white with denomination of origin. The zone of production would be the 'Turolenses' municipalities and, among other characteristics, the minimum altitude of these is 800m, with a period of treatment and maturation of a minimum one year.
-jamón de Trevélez. The only jamón white of Spain with I.G.P. (Protected Geographic Indication). The zone of production would be the municipalities of the 'granadina' Alpujarra at over 1200m high, regulated in Trevélez. These have a period of natural treatment, maturation and aging of 14 to 24 months
Jamón Mangalica is obtained, as its name indicates, from the native Hungarian mangalica race which originates in the cross-breeding of the primitive Mediterranean trunk, Sumadia (trunk to which the Iberian pig also belongs) race with the Szalontal and Bakonyl races (typical half-wild races of the Carpathians). In order to obtain a greater proportion of infiltrated fat, crosses with the Duroc race are made to obtain a greater proliferation and greater jamones yields. Their génetic characteristics (very greasy) and the totally natural feeding serve as a base for the production of jamones and cured backs. The mangalica race was in danger of extinction for many years, but in 1990, a Spanish company (Jamones Segovia) managed to acquire 90 reproductive females, thanks to announcements in the Hungarian press. From 1990 to the present, the survival of the race has been guaranteed to the point of being able to commercialise it - less in the case of the black mangalica, which has already become extinct.
-lacón
Lacón (in Gallego, from the Latin lacca; with no translation into Spanish) is another of the products obtained from the pig. It comes from the front extremities of the animal and, mainly, is one of the Celta, Large White, Landrace and Duroc races which are commercially produced. The pig, still 'sloppy', is slaughtered at six months minimum and at no less than 90 kilos. The front legs are put through a process of production similar to that applied to cured jamón, but for about 35 days, and consists of salting and washing to eliminate the remaining dried or matured salt. By means of this process, the pig's shoulders are transformed into cured lacones. It is not permitted to use smoking, since the organoléptica characteristics of the product would be lost.
-bacon
Bacon is the greasiest part, typically salty, with great energy value. A breakfast food eaten with eggs, or Spanish stew, is generally favoured and quite commonly used in traditional recipes, such as pizza, spaghetti and others.
-chorizo
Chorizo is a cured sausage inlay type (either by air or smoked) made from (although not exclusively) perforated and marinated meat with spices, the most characteristic being pimentón, which is the most distinguishing element of garlic sausage more than of other sausages, and which gives it its characteristic red colour. The skin of the sausage usually is pig's gut.
-salchichas
The sausage (sal - salt: dressing, chicha: meat) is a food of German origin with pricked meat, generally pork and some times beef, with an extended and cylindrical form. For this type of preparation, they usually take advantage of the parts of the animal which, although edible and nutritious, do not have a particularly tempting aspect, like the fat, the víscera and the blood. This meat is introduced into an envelope, traditionally the skin of the intestine of the animal, although at the moment is most common to use collágen, cellulose or even plastic, especially in industrial production. Hot dogs are a species of 'sándwiches' of sausage in bread of the same length, often with ketchup and mustard. If a sausage is eaten with a special type of bread, it is called "Pancho". |
