Joselito Coleccion Premium

TASTE THE WORLD’S MOST REMARKABLE HAM

Remarkable. It’s a word used so carelessly that it no longer conveys the meaning it should.

There is not a word that adequately describes Joselito Coleccion Premium, the ham that scored 9.75 out of 10 (a rating that means ‘the best food product of any kind’) by the world’s most renowned food authority and critic, Rafael Garcia Santos, in Spain’s gastronomic bible, Lo Mejor de la Gastronomie. You just have to taste it.

This year, you can.

Clayton Wright of Wright’s The Butchers (the same expert butcher who introduced the exquisite, ethically produced La Pateria de Sousa goose foie gras to Australia in September and was first to import Spanish jamons here) is bringing this year’s vintage Joselito ham to Australia for the first time. It will be launched in Sydney to celebrate Good Food month.

Most jamones ibericos mature for 2 years. This is a world first release for the 55 Joselito Coleccion Premium hams that have been maturing since 2004. Sydney will have to share the prize with food capitals London, Paris, Hong Kong and Madrid.

Clayton will receive his vintage Joselito hams in their distinctive Rafael Moneo designed boxes, three weeks before Harrods and anyone on mainland Europe do. So you may also. Several have already been pre‐sold for $5,000 each. The case is also a world first, a superb expression of the work of Spain’s Pritzker Prize awarded contemporary architect, Jose Rafael Moneo. The light studded interior
is stunning when lit.

So what makes the ham that Ferran Adrian claims is ‘his life’ remarkable?

Firstly, it is a jamon iberico de bellota, from the feted pure‐bred black‐hoofed iberico pig. Secondly, it is made from iberico pigs that fatten themselves during winter entirely in accordance with natural tendencies, on a diet of holm oak acorns for which they forage in the heavily wooded pasturelands called the dehesa in Spanish.

Thirdly, it is cured by expert Jamones Joselito ‐ an artisanal company in Guijuelo that is more than a century old ‐ under the watchful eye of fifth generation ham producer, Jose Gomez. Jose’s brother, Juan Luis Gomez, manages the farms. The cold, dry climate in Guijuelo, aided by its location 1,000m above sea level, provides optimal conditions for the perfect air‐dried ageing. At Joselito, salting,
curing and ageing are done the centuries old way. The only mechanised equipment is a button that opens and closes the windows in the drying room to regulate the temperature. Fourthly, and of course, most importantly, is the flavour of this deep purple ham with its melting striations of ivory coloured fat – aromatic, complex, sweetly meaty, nuttily redolent of acorns, minimally salted…unique.