Acorns in Aracena
Elana came out to greet us, and welcomed us to her family farm in the Sierras de Aracena. She was immediately curious as to why we signed up for this experience. 3 gringos with nothing better to do? Bored with the cathedrals and the alcazars? When she found out that it was, in fact, a school day for John, she sprang into action. She has a master’s degree in outdoor education, excellent training for just such an occasion. She took responsibility for Spanish language, farming, flora and fauna subject matters. As we all threw feed for the chickens, geese and pigeons under the watchful and curious Billy Goats and the incessant crowing of the rooster, John asked why the geese and pigeons were there. It turns out, just as in the old days, the geese are the general alarm for foxes…who try to catch a chicken, normally at siesta time. The pigeons are pawns for sacrifice to the eagles so they don’t take the chickens. Elana manhandled a wheelbarrow full of alfalfa and we went off to see the old girls and the boar that “manage” production. The breeding pigs are not sacrificed in ham production. We all threw the greens over the fence to meet the pigs first hand under the best of circumstances. The boar had just arrived this week, and the dynamics of social structure were playing out.
After gestation, birth and weaning, the little piglets run around and feed on grass and acorns. There are different grades of jamón Ibérico, as regulated by the Spanish government: Black, red, green and white label. This farm operates with only the highest quality standard– the black label for pure-bred Iberian black pigs and fed on acorns only (no grain/cereals). The oleic acid from the acorns makes the meat taste very specific, and the fat is good for you- like avocado or omega 3 from salmon, so they say. All I know is that we have seen a lot of ham legs in markets and restaurants, and we have tried many slices. Glad to hear it is good for us! Heart healthy pork. Yessiree.
The rules are very strict, each pig requires at least 1 hectare (2.47 acres) of land to roam and eat. Elana says that because rain was scarce this year, acorn production is less, so they are running fewer pigs this year. In good weather years they could run 80 pigs on their farm, but today they are only planning for 35 pigs in the final stages of weight gain. There are two kinds of trees producing acorns on their farm. The first kind look like live oaks that you see in Texas Hill country and Houston. The second kind is the cork tree. The cork tree is important for Iberian black pigs, as they don’t drop their acorns until January and February, and these additional feed months are required to get the pigs up to weight. They also allow cork harvesting of their trees, with some caution. The cork can be harvested without damaging the tree, in theory every 7-9 years—truly sustainable production. After 40-80 years to get a good tree producing acorns of good volume and size, one wrong move with the axe and you could lose a tree. The trees are the secret to the whole operation. The trees you plant are for the next generation and the one after that…kind of like running the commercial aircraft engine business :).
While the main feed is acorns, I can tell you that they also snack on alfalfa, dried peas and pumpkins. It is an organic farm, and the pumpkin is used as an anti-parasite to clear the pigs’ intestines. We picked 3 pumpkins that John, Elana and I carried back up the hill from a "sincere pumpkin patch" and heaved them over the fence, the piggies loved them. Elana said that her grandmother used to give her a spoonful of a pumpkin slurry when she had a stomach ache—but she would neither confirm nor deny that she stopped complaining for fear of getting another dose of the unpleasantness!
It is a challenging cash flow business, even compared to other agricultural pursuits. We visited the cellar where all the hams (back legs) and shoulders (front legs) were hanging. We were looking at roughly 4 years of WIP (work in process) in the hanging/curing stage. This amount of inventory looked like 100-150,000 euros at retail based on the hams alone. Roughly 1/4 of the total will rotate out for sale each year. Intermediate cash flow comes from the pâté and sausage (chorizo, Salchichón, etc.) production that doesn’t require as much aging time, months instead of years!
John and Elana became fast friends as did John and their two dogs, Jamba and Morita. The lunch was a real gift. Elana’s father sliced the jamón, and it was truly the best we had in all Europe. I even liked the pâté. The different kinds of sausage as well as cured loin were fabulous. The pumpkin soup was nice. And we thought we were done…then Elan’s mom brought out a filet of some sort, I think it was shoulder. It was fabulous. Our sampling laboratory turned into a gourmet feast, our great intentions of study turned into gluttony! We were very satisfied. Poor John still had a Spanish lesson to tend to when we returned to Sevilla. Belinda, John and I all had a good siesta during the car ride back to town.
Elana explains about the trees...how important it is to develop staggered ages of trees in close proximity...not patches of same age trees like commercial forest production. You can see the range of ages behind her, 1-2 years, 10 years, 50 years and over 100 years all in the same photo.
John, Belinda and Elana feed the production team!
The most important natural resource on the farm. Healthy trees producing acorns. See the slice of cork taken from a 200+ year old limb that fell in a wind storm. Cork cells were first observed by Robert Hooke in the 1660's with his compound microscope. As a materials scientists, we also know that he is responsible for Hooke's Law that says the elongation of a spring (or a solid body) is proportional to the applied force...or as Hooke said in the 17th century "ut tensio, sic vis." Obviously this is true up to the limit where permanent damage occurs to the material. As it turns out, cork demonstrates some interesting behavior as it relates to lateral strain when tension or compression is applied-- it doesn't get any thinner or thicker ! That's right, Poisson's ratio is near zero.
Jamba and a pig discuss the hierarchy and their own reporting relationships. They did not come to an agreement before the meeting broke up.
Elana's father slices the jamón with a very sharp, very flexible knife. The tags on the hoof area are black (the highest standard), but you can also see a green one. They use that one to denote "organic", but are considering changing the color because it also represents a lower quality grade of pig. We saw many different set-ups for holding the ham, which is very important for producing the thin slices and not wasting any meat. Some looked like bench rest shooting vises or x-ray diffraction goniometers. This one is more modest, and his expertise is high.
After a wonderful meal at their house. We are thankful for our new friends in Andalusia.