Tasting a place

Our groups tastes aged Iberico ham that has been fed different ways

I always like to try regional specialties when I can. Tasting the essence of a place literally makes that place a part of you. Consuming foods nourished on an area’s water, grains and produce feed the soul as well as the body. Many dishes also have strong ties to history.

My November trip to Portugal and Spain was filled with those opportunities but none was better than the morning our Insight Vacations motor coach dropped us off at Jamones Eirez Jabugo in southwest Spain. The family run business is one of the most famous producers of black Iberico hams, a delicacy only allowed in this country since 2009.

It is said that the Spanish eat more pork than any other people – a practice dating to 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella expelled both Jews and Moors. Both religions do not permit pork to be eaten, so consuming it was an act of both celebration and rebellion.

Black-footed Iberico pigs live a free-raging life foraging on acorns

We got to meet the pigs, black footed creatures who forage freely on acorns and see the process for salting and aging them then sampled the results. They’re harvested when they are two years old then age up to five years before the meat is eaten.

The oaks producing the acorns are both cork oaks and holm oaks which produce differently flavored acorns. The farmer helps to control their diet and influence the taste of the meat by using a 20-foot tall stick to dislodge the different across from the trees.

Corks for wine bottles are harvested from trees in this border area, with more than half the world’s cook coming from Portugal. We saw many shops displaying purses, dresses, shoes and other items made from cork.

We’re offered churros, the distinctly Spanish donut.

The first day of our visit we traveled to the Lisbon suburb of Belem to eat Pasteis de Nata  in the pastry shop that perfected the recipe for these  tasty custards in 1837. It’s said to be a closely guarded secret with the recipe known only by three people. The recipe is said to have originated with the practices of the church. A need to use egg yolks was created when the nuns used huge quantities of egg whites to starch their habits.

Later, just after we arrived in Seville, we stopped for churros, the donut like treat I knew from Madrid but served all over Spain. Typically the deep fried strips of dough are served at churrerias and offered with a cup of thick Spanish hot chocolate for dipping.