Pigs lay the golden ham

At $82 a pound, I certainly won't be making sandwiches with this ham.

I recently tried Iberico ham, the famous Spanish ham that's been available in this country for only a couple of months. Chris Eley of Goose the Market, 2503 N. Delaware St., got a whole Iberico ham in last week and planned to begin selling super-thin slices of the pricey Spanish specialty Tuesday. A 1-ounce portion will cost about $5, and even in such small increments, Eley doesn't expect his 15-pound ham to last long.

The first Iberico hams arrived in this country in December, and according to The New York Times, all are from "Embutidos FermÃn, in La Alberca, Spain, the only producer that is authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to export the hams here." It took years to get the USDA-approved inspection process set up, and serious foodies have had their names on waiting lists. (Check out www.tienda.com for ordering info.)

So what's the big deal? Experts say it's all about the acorns. Iberico pigs forage in a pasture area in southwestern Spain where scattered forests of oak trees grow amid the grassland. The pigs eat plenty of acorns (according to www.jamon.com, a pig can eat more than 20 pounds of them a day), and that's what gives the meat a characteristic nuttiness and the fat a rich, melty texture. The hams are dry- cured and aged, generally for two to four years.

As to taste, Iberico really can't be compared to Serrano, a Spanish ham that costs about $20 a pound. I tried both last week with Eley, and Iberico proved to have a much more lasting, complex flavor, with fat that truly melts in the mouth. It is considerably drier and more flavorful than prosciutto, an Italian dry-cured ham, and nowhere near as salty as American dry-cured country hams (which, incidentally, savvy marketers have taken to calling "American prosciutto").