Iberico Ham | Premium Fermin Paleta de Cebo de Campo - 10-12 lbs
What you're actually buying
| Approximate weight | 10–12 lb, bone-in |
| Servings of 1 oz | about 67 |
| Cost per serving | about $7.30 |
Servings are an estimate based on typical edible yield once bone, rind and outer fat are removed.
Fermín Paleta de Cebo de Campo Ibérica, 10–12 lb
The front leg of a free-range Ibérico pig raised on grass, grain and whatever the dehesa provides. Cebo de campo sits between Serrano and bellota: unmistakably Ibérico in character, at a price that lets you keep a whole piece on the counter rather than saving it for an occasion.
A paleta is smaller than a jamón and quicker to work through, which makes it the sensible first whole piece for a household rather than a party.
Handcrafted using traditional artisanal techniques at Fermín in La Alberca, Salamanca, a producer working in the region since 1956.
Enjoy it as a tapa, on a charcuterie board, or as the centrepiece of a Spanish table.
How to know it's the real thing
Spanish law (Real Decreto 4/2014) requires every Ibérico piece to carry a coloured seal declaring breed and feed. Four colours, no ambiguity:
- Black — bellota 100% ibérico: pure Iberian breed, acorn-fed, free-range
- Red — bellota ibérico: crossed breed, acorn-fed, free-range
- Green — cebo de campo: free-range, fed on grass and grain
- White — cebo: grain-fed, raised indoors
This piece carries the green seal: an Ibérico animal raised outdoors in the dehesa on grass and grain rather than acorns. Not bellota, and priced accordingly — but a long way from a barn-raised white pig. How to check that seal yourself, with the piece in front of you.
Worth reading before you commit to a whole piece
- Bellota vs cebo de campo vs serrano — the four legal grades with the cost per serving of six whole pieces side by side, this one included. Read it before you decide between a paleta and a full leg: the order is not the one the price tags suggest.
- How much jamón do I need? — 67 servings feeds about 33 people at 2 oz each. This works out your own guest count, and prices the same party three ways.
- How to carve a whole jamón — first cut, which way the piece faces, what the stand and knife cost, and how to keep the cut face covered between sessions.
- The Ibérico buying guide — seals, cost per bite, bone-in vs boneless, and keeping a piece once it is open.
