Although we try not to send a moldy Jamon to you, sometimes the Jamon you receive can seem a little bit unsightly. Don’t worry though. This is not because the Jamon has gone bad, it is a natural process which is caused during the curation process.
You will often open up a whole leg (often if it has only been wrapped in paper) and it will be covered in white, green and black specks of mold. You will likely be shouting: ‘Why Is my Jamon Moldy?’. Well, it means that it has simply been exposed to oxygen.
During the curation process, the Jamon is hung in the open air so that a fine layer of Mold can form on the outer layer. This mold is mostly harmless and is a huge part of the curation process, and is why the flavours are so amazing. Think of this mold as the same mold you will find in a blue cheese. It adds flavour to the meat and helps to protect the meat inside from harmful bugs and bacterias. When the Jamon is prepared to be sold, the mold is washed, or wiped off and put inside a vacuum pack, or wrapped in paper. Given time, this mold will start to grow back!
How do I Clean My Jamon?
So, how do you clean the Jamon? Well, all you need to do is get a slightly damp cloth and wipe the jamon down. It is sometimes easier to find a place to hand up the leg and work with it that way. As long as the mold has been removed from the area you are about to cut, then the jamon will be perfectly safe to open and eat.
If you have however, already opened the meat, and there is white, green and black mold on the red flesh, you may have left it too long and this is not safe to eat. The best thing to do is to cut off the layer of old flesh and take the jamon from a fresher part of the leg. If you are in doubt, it may be best just not to eat it!
