Gourmet Spanish Food Aficionados Have Jamón Ibérico for Christmas and a New Website, Too

LaTienda.com, a family-owned gourmet Spanish food retailer based in Williamsburg, VA, is pleased to announce the availability of the long-awaited Jamón Ibérico Spanish hams in the US, and the simultaneous launch of Jamon.com, a website dedicated to the fine art of ham.

The first Jamón Ibérico hams were flown in just before Thanksgiving and have cleared final inspection by the USDA in time for Christmas delivery. They are now available for sale on LaTienda.com and Jamon.com and are priced around $800 each — but there may be fierce competition over the first shipment, as more than 300 customers have pre-ordered the hams, some placing their deposits as long as five years ago. “Those who placed their deposits in 2002 were true believers,” according to Don Harris, owner of LaTienda, Inc., “It was just as likely as not that the hams would never arrive. But they finally have.”

The hams are from an ancient breed of pig, Cerdo Ibérico, which lives only in select regions of Spain where the ancient forest meadow known as the dehesa is abundant. They are sometimes known locally as “Pata Negra” due to their distinctive black hoofs. A lucky few of these animals graze freely under acorn-laden oak trees for five months of their maturity, and grow fat on acorns and meadow grasses.

The result is the fabled Jamón Iberico Bellota ham. Paper-thin slices of this nutty delicacy glisten on the serving plate, since their marbled fat is up to 60% mono-unsaturated, giving the ham beneficial qualities similar to olive oil.

Bringing these prized hams to the United States required the concerted efforts of many people on both sides of the Atlantic. LaTienda has worked closely with the Santiago Martín family of Embutidos Fermín in the medieval mountain village of La Alberca, as well as their partners Fermín USA. Over the years, the enthusiastic encouragement of the celebrated chef José Andrés was also invaluable, particularly in his dedication to introducing Spanish cuisine to America.

LaTienda.com was the first to bring Jamón Serrano to homes across the United States back in 1997. The following winter the quest to make Jamón Iberico available began when LaTienda visited the Jabugo home of the fabled Cinco Jotas Ibérico Jamón.

The arrival of the first shipment of jamón iberico hams this fall is an important milestone on the quest. The culmination will be the arrival of the fabled acorn-fed Jamón Ibérico Bellota hams next summer. These hams will retail at about $1,500 each.

Continuing their ten year tradition of leadership in fine food from Spain, LaTienda has just launched Jamon.com, to provide comprehensive and authoritative information from some of the world’s leading specialists in Spanish ham. Antonio Gazquez Ortiz, Professor of Histology at the University of Extremadura in Cáceres, Spain and the re-eminent scholar of Cerdo Ibérico, the Iberian pig, has generously consented to contribute to Jamon.com. Professor Gazquez Ortiz is an author, gourmet, scientist, and historian.

“With Jamon.com, we hope to provide a complete resource for all aspects of the production of cured hams in Spain, including history, techniques, and breeding,” said Don Harris, owner of LaTienda, Inc.

In addition to resource materials and commentary, Jamon.com will offer the full array of Spanish ham products and a selection of leading European and American hams, for food lovers to compare.

“We also are including a Jamón Blog on Jamon.com, which will chronicle the very latest adventures in the quest for Spanish hams,” Harris added. “One of the happy coincidences of this comprehensive site is that we are able to assist people who are seeking to renew the cultivation of bellota free range hogs in America, and also to develop their own heritage American breeds.”

There is a growing appreciation in America for healthy, responsibly bred and humanely cared for livestock. It is the perfect time for the arrival of Ibérico hams to our shores.”*

• The mayor of a wealthy suburb (San Pedro Garza Garcia) of Monterrey said Monday that he has sent his family to the United States for their own safety as he pursues his campaign against extortion and kidnapping gangs.
• Hispanic Entrepreneur profile: Entrepreneurship began early for Gándara family – El Paso
• LatAm Immigrants Are Changing Spain, Sociologist Says
• Trend Toward Smaller Families in Latin America – The number of people per household in Latin America will fall by 18 percent by 2020, according to a study released in this capital Tuesday by consulting firm Euromonitor International.
• Authorities say a 7-year-old boy, three women and a university professor are among 15 people who were killed in a single day (this past Friday) in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez.
• Longtime Rutgers Professor, Community Activist, Gay-Rights Pioneer Hilda Hidalgo Loses Cancer Fight
• University of Central Florida Professor Luis Martínez-Fernández was recently named to the College Board’s governing body
• Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez and Paul Espinosa, professors in ASU’s Department of Transborder Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, are recipients of awards from the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education. The awards recognize energy, expertise and remarkable contributions to the Hispanic community.
• Internet users can now take a virtual pilgrimage on Spain’s Road to Santiago, or Way of St. James, thanks to Google’s Street View service.
• Members of a Guatemalan family living in Marin County are now separated by thousands of miles after immigration officials deported the parents of three children overnight. – California
• Mexico’s family-friendly hot spots – Consider heading to locales in Nayarit and Oaxaca, where surf, sun and inexpensive attractions have been a hit for one family of four.
• APA Poll Finds Stress Having an Impact on Families, Hispanics
• In a new book Migration and the Transformation of the Southern Workplace Since 1945 (University of Florida Press), University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Professor of History Colin Davis, Ph.D., along with his co-editor, Robert Cassanello, present a collection of seven essays that examine the impact that migration and globalization are having on labor in the American South.
• Latinos need more than lip service – Families are being torn apart by America’s broken immigration system. President Obama needs to show leadership and fix it – (the view from England)
• Spain’s El Mundo Launches America’s Digital Edition
• Independent bloggers school opens in Cuba
• Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has appointed three people to the state’s Latino Family Commission – has never met since it was established in 2007 (?)
• As she embarks on her first tour of the U.S., singer-songwriter Yasmin Levy, 34, has built an estimable reputation as a champion of Ladino music, the ancient music of the Sephardic Jews of Spain.
• A book that aims to explain the business and culture of drug trafficking playing out in El Paso and Juárez was released today. – “Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez” is written by University of Texas at El Paso professor Howard Campbell.
• University of Nevada, Reno professor Emma Sepulveda Pulvirenti was appointed to the commission this week by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. – National Museum of the American Latino Commission.