Authentic Fermin Acorn-Fed Iberico Ham Shoulder (10-14 lbs)


Description

What you're actually buying

Approximate weight 10–14 lb, bone-in
Servings of 1 oz about 73
Cost per serving about $7.25

Compare with sliced bellota in 2 oz packs, which works out to roughly $16 per serving. A whole shoulder is less than half the price per bite.

Fermín acorn-fed Ibérico shoulder — paleta de bellota, 10–14 lb

Made from 100% purebred Iberian pigs raised on acorns and natural pasture. The shoulder is the front leg: smaller than a full jamón, more concentrated, and marbled with the soft fat that only a montanera diet produces.

Whether you call it Spanish ham, pata negra, bellota ham or Ibérico ham, this is the piece that gets you to bellota quality without the price of a whole leg.

Crafted using traditional artisanal techniques passed down for generations at Fermín in La Alberca, Salamanca.

Ingredients: 100% Ibérico acorn-fed shoulder, salt, sugar, trisodium citrate, potassium nitrate, sodium nitrite.

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 black seal, the highest of the four grades. The seal stays on the piece — check it yourself before the first cut.

The whole shoulder, or already sliced?

A whole piece is the cheapest way to eat bellota and the most work. Sliced packs cost more per bite and need nothing: no stand, no knife, no learning curve. Same acorn-fed Ibérico either way.

This one — whole shoulder, bone-in
10–14 lb · about 73 servings · about $7.25 each · needs a stand and a knife
$529
Hand cut by a master carver — 5 Jotas shoulder
3 packs × 2.5 oz · knife-cut, not machine-sliced
$160
Fermín acorn-fed ham, sliced
4 packs × 2 oz · vacuum sealed, ready to serve
$130

Not sure you want to carve? Start with a sliced pack. Most people who buy a whole piece bought one first.