It was a simple matter of time. The Iberian pig, like any other gourmet product, leaves our country to kitchens where it is valued more and, above all, where you also pay more.
Curiously, being the 100% Iberian acorn-fed ham the largest of our gastronomic flagsthere are countries where it is not the most demanded product around the Iberian pig.
This is the case with Japan, where ham is not the product with the highest demand. However, in neighboring China they do have a predilection for this cured meat. Curiously, it will be in Japan where Spain finds one of its best markets to sell pork Iberian.
At least as long as the Iberian pig that is marketed is of quality, making cuts that in Spain were residual or were paid for relatively cheap, in the country of the Rising Sun they become highly paid culinary treasures.
However, of all the cutting of the Iberian pig there is a piece that in Japan is considered cardinal sandwich and for which they pay real fortunes. Explain Francisco Asparagusgeneral director of the company Señorío de Montanera from Extremadura, who “in Japan are crazy about Iberian pork”.
That does not mean that it was the only cut that goes to Japan, as they explain, since it also they buy the meat of the bacon. “At a very good price,” explains Espárrago, and also a meat that is practically no longer seen in Spain from pure 100% acorn-fed Iberico: ribs.
“Ribs and rib meat are almost no longer sold in Spain because it has gone from being a product that was worth 4 euros per kilo to the Japanese pay it at 15 euros per kilo“, Explain.
Against this market dynamic it is impossible to compete, unless we pay more. Something that seems that we are not in favor of the work or not when we also see that the Iberian pig, when it competes fresh, has practically nothing to explain in its labeling.
Contrary to what happens with cured products —which do have to indicate through the labeling the type of pig from which they come under the Iberian Quality Standard—, the fresh ones hardly have any obligation to label.
This supposes a comparative tort for companies that sell 100% acorn-fed Iberian pork (which in ham would mean the black seal) as opposed to those that sell field-fed Iberian pork (in ham it would be the green seal), since the standard does not require specifying the type of pig Iberian.
Something that happens with the Iberian prey, which explains Espárrago that “in Spain, the distributor does not pay more than 40 euros per kilo, while the Japanese, speaking of distributors, pay up to 200 euros per kilo“. An abysmal difference that does not speak of how the product is then transferred to the final consumer, but that means that authentic 100% Iberian acorn-fed pork is not a prophet in our land.
Images | Manor of Montanera
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