Iberico Pork

Iberico Meat

What exactly is the fresh Iberian meat?

Breed – The Iberian Pork is a 100% pure breed. In contrary to our ‘native’ pig, the pink one, the Iberian Pork has a pure and authentic taste. It’s the power of nature.

Demands – The breeding of the Iberian pigs is controlled by diverse organisations and is set by Spanish law.

Meat – As a result of their life outside, as well as feeding habits, the meat of the Iberian Pork has some special qualities. One of them is that the animals have not been exposed to factors such as stress. Another one is the intramuscular structure of fat. Thanks to the free-living space, the pigs have had a lot of exercise, which is the reason of the intramuscular structure. This fat gives the meat the authentic and magnificent taste.

Black Foot – Pure Iberian hogs are to be recognized by their black feet, which is the English translation for pata negra.

Nutritional information – recent studies have proven that Iberian meat has a high content of oleic acids (monounsaturated fatty acid) in its fats. These acids produce beneficial effect over cholesterol in the blood, promotes as well an increase of the HDL rate “good cholesterol” and reduces the rate of the aterogenic LDL “bad cholesterol” Iberian pork fat has more than 55% oleic acid (monounsaturated)- only olive oil has a higher content of oleic acid.

Production

As stated, our fresh Iberian meat is produced by DeRaza. This company is situated in Talavera de la Reina, 1 hour from Madrid. The family company started in 1996 and today under current CEO Ruben Diaz DeRaza is the largest, and most successful producer of fresh Iberian meat in the world. The company controls the entire breeding cyclus of the hogs, from birth until after the slaughter. DeRaza has 5 farms, just for the births only. They also use 65 dehesa’s (the big fields, full of hills, trees, and small lakes) for the 12.000 Iberian hogs. Every year, DeRaza uses 65.000 hogs, which are slaughtered when they are 16 months old. To ensure the freshness of the meat, the products are cut when the slaughtered hogs are still warm. This procedure helps the pace with which the fresh meat products are ready to be transported to a variety of clientele.