Prosciutto di Sauris — Smoked Alpine Ham

Sauris (Zahre), Udine province, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The village of Sauris was settled by German-speaking colonists from the Bavarian and Tyrolean Alps in the 14th century, bringing with them Central European preservation techniques including smoked ham. IGP status granted in 2009.

Prosciutto di Sauris IGP is the unique smoked prosciutto of the high Carnic Alps in Friuli — produced in the remote mountain village of Sauris (Zahre in the local Bavarian-German dialect, reflecting the area's 14th-century German-speaking settlers) at 1,200m altitude. Unlike Parma or San Daniele (which are unsmoked), Sauris prosciutto undergoes a cold smoking over beechwood before its long curing, producing a ham with a distinctive amber-brown exterior and a delicate, sweet-smoky flavour that combines the characteristic sweetness of long-aged prosciutto with the complexity of cold smoke. It is produced by two family dairies in the village and is genuinely difficult to obtain outside the Friuli.

Prosciutto di Sauris has a flavour unlike any other Italian ham — the sweet, long-cured prosciutto note is present but filtered through the beechwood smoke, creating a complexity that is simultaneously Italian and Central European. The fat is especially sweet. Sliced thin, it is amber-pink and translucent, with the distinctive smoked fragrance that identifies it immediately.