We already knew that it was good , raw ham is one of the most enjoyable foods that man has ever invented. But that it was also good for health is truly surprising . Due to the large amount of salt and fat that this food naturally contains, it has always been referred to as not exactly a healthy food. Yet a ham that is good for health exists.
It is the black pig ham , Sicilian and more precisely from the Nebrodi Mountains and
seems to be a real panacea . To say it is the Sapienza University of Rome which has elected it as the best healthy salami in Italy .
The health- promoting ham is produced in Mirto , a small town in the Nebrodi mountains, halfway between western and eastern Sicily.
An uncontaminated area still little known by mass tourism and gourmet restaurants that holds many surprises for both lovers of good food and nature. Here , right in the center of the small village, there is a real " factory of goodness". La Paisanella AGOSTINO is a gourmet's paradise where craftsmanship, territory and love for the product meet.
And it is precisely here that the healthiest ham in Italy is produced , a truly unique characteristic which essentially depends on its raw material. On these mountains , very special pigs have been raised and slaughtered for centuries: the black pig of the Nebrodi is a native breed that adapts well to the cold climates of the woods and feeds almost exclusively on acorns and whatever it likes best among the trees . A breed that was about to risk extinction because it was not very profitable due to its small size and its
large amount of body fat . And it is precisely that fat that makes ham so special and healthy : according to the La Sapienza University of Rome, the meat of the Nebrodi black piglet contains a quantity of polyunsaturated fatty acids similar in quantity and quality more to olive oil than to others animal fats such as butter and lard.
It has been shown that this particular type of meat has beneficial effects on health because it is comparable to the so-called good fats that help fight cholesterol.
Very fragrant , tasty, savory at the right point and with an abundant buttery and soft fat, the Nebrodi black pig ham is a delicacy to be eaten lightly (obviously without exaggerating) which is good for your health but also for the palate . A feast for the taste buds, thanks to the unique scents and aromas.
This delicacy is also a rarity in these parts . In fact, the processing of legs of ham is not a technique historically known to Sicilian breeders and on the island the traditional butchery is limited to the production of dry sausages and rather rustic salami . Paisanella Agostino , the first company in Sicily to produce ham from Nebrodi black pigs, learned this noble process thanks to a special project of the Sicily region which provided for an active collaboration between companies in the Sicilian territory and the University of Agri-Food Sciences and Technologies of Parma .
“ The project in which we took part in 1996 allowed us to become who we are now, it was truly a turning point in the lives of all of us - says Luisa Agostino , soul of La Paisanella and wife of Sebastiano breeder and historic butcher - First what we went to Parma to study production techniques, specifically my sister-in-law Pina is very passionate about butchery and she is now our product manager .
Then we started the period of support in the production, from Mirto we sent the right legs of the animal to Parma, we kept the left ones . From there a mirror work began, following what we had learned we repeated all the operations step by step , we at Mirto and the University at Parma. On the same day, the flesh was removed, then the salting, then the brushing, up to the seasoning .
After 18 months the first panel tests arrived in which some experts compared the two hams . The result was surprising: even if the hams made in Parma with black pig legs were technically perfect , our slightly more crooked ones had incomparable aromas and flavours . Little by little we have improved and learned the technique better and better and now in Parma they tell us that the students have surpassed the master ! All thanks to the natural aging cellars , a cave in the high mountains where the ham is able to absorb and subsequently express all the scents of the forest and
this little pig which is still raised in the wild and which in 2000 was recognized as a Slow Food presidium.
