Don Ibérico is the proprietor of its own breeding farm of Iberian pig stock. This unique strain grows to its full potential in our private, cared for pastures, reaching the highest quality levels thanks to a permanent care and follow-up which our pigs are provided with from birth through all of their developmental stages. All of these factors have helped us to maintain our products' homogeneous and permanent quality over time.
Don Ibérico pigs grow in complete freedom on the company's extensive pastures, with over three hectares for each, obligating them to constant exercise while searching for food and water, something which helps their muscles to absorb fat, a particularly important factor contributing toward our products' excellent sensory characteristics.
In an initial phase, the Don Ibérico pig feeds on grass, cereals and seeds; in a second phase, known as the fattening or "montanera" phase, they feed on the caloric acorn, giving their meat its delicate scent and nuance-filled taste which satisfies the most exquisite and demanding palates.
Our pigs are pampered with all types of attention and care until they abandon our pastures at approximately 24 months of age and around 160-180 kg. in weight.
Located in Guijuelo, birthplace of artisan traditions related with the Iberian pig, south-east of Salamanca province between the foothills of the Gredos and Bejar Sierras, this region is privileged with a microclimate of long, cold winters and short summers, ideal factors for the drying and maturing of all of our products.
The silence and peace of our cellars, mixed with the pure, cold air, naturally mature each piece over the course of two years. During this time, our artisan masters assure that these products are under optimal conditions of humidity and temperature, oscillating between 60%-80% and 14- 18ºC, respectively.
This gradual maturing in our natural cellars transforms the pieces until they obtain the textures, scents, nuances, and flavours which make our products, and especially our ham, the gems of our gastronomy.
QUALITY IS FOREMOST At Don Ibérico we submit all of our products to the most rigorous and renown quality controls for the sake of our Client's absolute satisfaction.
Complete product traceability. Each of our hams and shoulder-hams are individually identified with bar codes to guarantee, in detail, the entire elaboration process.
In addition, all of our sausages are controlled by batches assigned to each campaign so that the technical quality control services may exhaustively and permanently supervise the lengthy elaboration process of our different ibérico products.
Artisan elaboration and Technological Innovation. As now and before, the ibérico pig products are elaborated with traditional methods, but the integration of new industrial processes and the most modern laboratory techniques have allowed us to raise the health controls and final quality of our products to the highest levels.
CERTIFICATIONS AND ACCREDITATIONS
1LLOYD’S REGISTER QUALITY
Don Ibérico has been granted approval by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Limited in accordance with the following quality standard: UNE EN ISO 9001: 2000. This quality management system is applicable to the elaboration of ibérico shoulder-hams and sausages.
Don Ibérico is a company which constantly innovates for the purpose of giving priority to the satisfaction of its Clients. In this sense, the company has obtained the ISO 9001 certification which allows it to guarantee the documented quality of all of its products in accordance with guidelines set by the most demanding international markets.
2GUIJUELO DENOMINATION OF ORIGIN
The Regulatory Council of the Guijuelo Denomination of Origin is responsible, amongst other activities, for the control of quality and origin of products recognized by said denomination, all of those proceeding from ibérico pigs bred and fattened in registered livestock farms located in the regions of holm and cork oak pastures where the ibérico pig has been bred for centuries.
3CALICER
All Don Ibérico products are certified by Calicer, a company accredited by ENAC (National Accreditation Entity), assuring compliance with the requirements set forth by the Ibérico Standard, guaranteeing the quality of ham, shoulder-ham, loin sausages, and ibérico meats.
Therefore, both end Clients and final Consumers are assured that they have before them a product which complies with strictly defined quality-related criteria.
4ACCREDITATIONS
Don Ibérico exports its products to many countries. In Europe, its presence in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Holland, France and Portugal is worth highlighting. We are also present in places further away, like Iceland or the French Polynesia.
Don Ibérico is accredited as a company within the meat industry in the following countries: Japan, South Korea, Chile, Hong Kong, Mexico and Brazil.
The natural habitat in which our livestock is bred is the Mediterranean pasture of spacious, green fields surrounded by centenary holm and cork oaks from which the famous, caloric acorns which fatten our ibérico pigs during the "montanera" are obtained, and which are the main staple of their diet. This is the determining factor of our products' final quality.
During their stay in these pastures, our pigs are completely free under the sun and breathe fresh air, having great expanses through which to move without fences or barriers of any kind.
A natural diet based on grass and acorn from our own pastures makes for their body tissue to have a high proportion of nutrients, minerals and antioxidants, as well as an especially elevated concentration of monounsaturated fatty acids, amongst which oleic acid - so beneficial to our health - stands out.
Altogether, this makes for Don Ibérico products to not only have singular sensory characteristics, but also qualities beneficial to the health of those who consume them.
· THE MONTANERA
This is the term used to define the fattening phase of the ibérico pigs in pastures where, in complete liberty, they are obligated to a continuous exercise when searching for food and water, delaying their fattening and thus achieving that the grease impregnates even deeper into their muscle mass, resulting in incomparable juiciness, scent and taste.
During this period, the ibérico pig's basic diet is the acorn which falls from the holm and cork oaks, complemented by the grass of the pastures, stubble, wild legumes and fruits of the graminaea. The entire farming process with these animals is planned so that one of our most important objectives is attained: that the pig reaches the "montanera" phase in adequate conditions to take maximum advantage of the acorns and grass of the pastures.
The duration of the "montanera" is highly dependent on the weather conditions each year, though normally the period comprises October through March.