Jabugo is crowded with ham producers, and there are shops everywhere selling those world-famous ham hocks. At Sánchez Romero Carvajal the region’s biggest ham factory, Manolo – the company’s maestro jamonero – meets me in a colonnaded courtyard, which dates back to 1879. He leads me to a vast, dimly lit room on the first floor. The rafters are strung with several thousand yellowed hocks of maturing meat, complete with dainty pointed hoofs.
This is where the hocks of jamón ibérico de bellota, one of the world’s most expensive hams, are hung for 24-30 months to dry, after being packed in sea salt. Using a splinter of bone, Manolo punctures one of the hams. The sweet, cheesy odour that fills the air tells him that this hock is ripe.
Jabugo is rated as one of the best places in the world for producing pata negra ham. I ask him why. “The air in Jabugo is cold; dry by day but humid at night. This is what gives exceptional flavour to our meat,” he says proudly.
Later at Las Bellotas, a rustic restaurant with a roaring fire near Jabugo’s main square, I sit at a wobbly wooden table and sip syrupy local acorn-infused licor de bellota (acorn liqueur) with a snack of Sánchez Romero Carvajal's 36-month-cured Cinco Jotas ham. The tender slivers of creamy meat with their rich nutty flavour leave me hungry for more.