Real Tuscan Prosciutto Is Now Available – Finally – In US

Think you know prosciutto? Think again.

In this country when we use the word prosciutto, most people take it to mean Prosciutto di Parma or a near sibling. One of the world’s great gourmet foodstuffs, Prosciutto di Parma is a dry cured, aged ham, made only in a very specific region around the Italian city of Parma, under very strict rules. Its production is inseparable from that of Parmigiano-Reggiano, “The King of Cheeses,” which I have written about here at length. Because the two products are so linked – and so good – Prosciutto di Parma is often called “The King of Hams.”

The key word is “ham.” In Italian, that is what prosciutto means. Now think about going to the supermarket deli case and looking at ham. You have cheap ham and expensive ham, boiled ham and baked ham. There is Black forest, French bistro, Spanish Serrano, maple cured, and so on and so on. It’s the same case in Italy. There are a wide range of hams that are cooked, known as prosciutto cotto, literally “cooked ham.”

Prosciutto di Parma and its ilk fit into a much smaller niche, prosciutto crudo, or “raw ham.” They aren’t really raw, they are dry cured and ready for human consumption, but they have never been heated (or frozen). This is what we think of when we say prosciutto or see it on a menu, but it is only one kind – and in my mind the best kind.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Forbes