PProvenance
Enter
Italian · V The Canonical Dishes · Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Prosciutto di San Daniele — Curing and Resting

‹ Friuli-Venezia Giulia

I

Origin

San Daniele del Friuli, Udine province, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The town sits at the confluence of Alpine and Adriatic air currents that create the specific microclimate for curing. DOP status since 1996.

II

Description

San Daniele prosciutto is the Friulian peer of Parma ham: DOP-protected, made from pigs raised in 10 specific Italian regions, cured in the town of San Daniele del Friuli (Udine province). The unique characteristic is the 'chitarra' shape — the trotter is left on, and the ham is pressed flat under its own weight during the early curing stages. This creates a distinctively guitar-shaped prosciutto and, more importantly, keeps the moisture more evenly distributed during curing, producing a sweeter, more complex flavour than Parma ham.

III

The Thread

—DOP Italian dry-cured ham using sea salt only — the Parma and San Daniele traditions are closely related but produce different flavour profiles: Parma is slightly milder and sweeter; San Daniele is more complex, with a slight sweetness from the trotter's moisture retention Emilian
—Dry-cured ham using salt and mountain air — the Iberian tradition cures for longer (24-48 months) and uses a very different breed and feed programme, producing a more intensely flavoured, fattier ham with different aromatic compounds Spanish
IV

Flavour Context

San Daniele has a pronounced sweetness from the longer, trotter-retained moisture — the lean has a delicate, fruity quality and the fat melts to release a buttery, nutty sweetness. At room temperature, the volatile aromatics open fully. It is one of the sweetest and most complex of the Italian prosciutti.

Pillars V — VII
The full training pages are part of membership.
Quality hierarchy, sensory tests, and where the dish lives or dies — on every entry in the Library.
Enter · from $49 a year

‹ Friuli-Venezia Giulia · Contents · The Library