Buy Serrana arm shoulder pork at a good price and with quality:
Gastronomic Spain is your store of shoulder blade and Serrana arm shoulder pork:
Gastronomic Spain is your store of Serrano arm shoulder. We offer you a wide variety of Serrano arm shoulder porks at a good price and with a high quality. From different geographic areas of Spain.
The Serrana arm shoulder pork is one of the great unknown outside Spain. It is used to be confused with the ham and in addition, the usual is to find Iberian arm shoulder porks abroad. At Gastronomic Spain, we offer you Serrana arm shoulder pork in different formats: whole leg, semi-boneless, in pieces, sliced, adapting us to your tastes and in addition, with free shipping in all Europe for orders over 79.99 € or 89.99 € depending on the country of destiny (including UK, Switzerland and Norway).
What is a shoulder blade or Serrana arm shoulder pork?
Serrana arm shoulder pork is, possibly, the greatest unknown of our Spanish gastronomy. It is true that a few times we hear “we are going to ear Serrana arm shoulder pork”, but you can hear “we are going to eat ham”. It is due to many people that it is considered the same, although if we concrete a bit, we will see that it is not.
We could define that the Serrana arm shoulder pork is the final product obtained to curing the legs or the front legs of the white pork. Serrana arm shoulder pork is all cured arm shoulder pork from not Iberian ones.
Shoulder blade of pork comprises from the hoof of the pork to scapula or shoulder blade. The curing process of the arm shoulder pork and Serrano hams comes from centuries ago and it comes up for the difficulty that they had in ancient times to preserve the meat of the sacrificed animals.
Differences between Serrana and Iberian arm shoulder pork:
There are two types of cured arm shoulder porks: Iberian and Serrana. At the time of choosing between one and the other, you have to take into account the differences between them and that justify why one of them is substantially more expensive.
Pork breed:
The main difference between a Serrana arm shoulder pork and an Iberian one is the animal breed. Those whose breed is 50 % Iberian or superior are considered Iberian arm shoulder porks.
On the other hand, not Iberian arm shoulder porks are not considered Serrana arm shoulder porks. In general, the pork breeds used to produce hams and arm shoulder porks are: large white, duroc and landrace. Standing out about them is that the duroc is the breed that at the same time is chosen to crossbreed the Iberian porks.
The own genetics of the Iberian breed provides a delicious taste and nutritional benefits that the white porks do not have. It has to highlight among them its high content in oleic acid and unsaturated fats.
A highlighted characteristic is that the white porks breeds are less fatty than the Iberian ones, so that they give rise to arm shoulder porks with less proportion of fat.
The feeding of the porks:
The feeding is another factor that differentiates the Serranas arm shoulder porks from the Iberian ones. In general, Serrano porks have a feeding system based on natural feeds and cereals. While the Iberian porks can be fed based on feed, acorn, natural pasture and fruit, depending on the product to be elaborated.
Raising and life of Serrano porks:
White porks to Serranas arm shoulder porks live in captivity in farmyard and farms, while the Iberian ones can live in captivity or on freedom.
Curing of Serrana arm shoulder pork:
The curing process of the Serrana arm shoulder pork and the Iberian one is the same. The difference is in the time of curing. The Serrana arm shoulder pork has a minimal curing of 6 months, while the Iberian one has a minimal curing of 12 months, reaching a maximum until 24 months (according to the purity of the Iberian pork breed). The reason why Serrana arm shoulder porks need less curing is because they are much less fatty than the Iberian ones.
According to the curing, we are going to identify 3 types of Serranas arm shoulder porks:
Serrana arm shoulder pork from Bodega: it is said that an arm shoulder pork from Bodega is the one that has a curing of at least 6 months.
Serrana Reserva arm shoulder pork: a Reserva arm shoulder pork is the one that has a curing of at least 10 months.
Serrana Gran Reserva arm shoulder pork: Serrana Gran Reserva arm shoulder pork is the one that has a curing of at least 12 months.
Arm shoulder porks’ certification:
The certification is a guarantee of origin that it is given to this kind of product. In the case of the Iberian arm shoulder porks, this certification is imposed by the Minister of Agriculture, where the tags are distinguished with colors. By the contrary, it is unusual to find certified Serranas arm shoulder porks.
There are two Denominations of Origin protected by hams and Serranas arm shoulder porks that certify these products: the Denomination of Protected Origin of ham from Teruel and Trevélez. On these, the Serranas arm shoulder porks are certified that had been elaborated under their standards of quality.
Why is an arm shoulder pork cheaper than a ham?
For many of us, visually, an arm shoulder pork is the same as an ham, but it is something smaller, so that it is normal that many call her ham or shoulder blade ham.
However, this is a mistake, since if the only difference was the size, the weight per kg would be the same, when it is not.
After seeing the differences between Serrana arm shoulder pork and Serrano ham, you will understand why the arm shoulder pork is cheaper than ham. The reasons that make an arm shoulder pork cheaper than ham are as follows:
● The arm shoulder is more fatty than the pork, an aspect that backs out many consumers that do not like the fat.
● Less efficiencies of meat are obtained from a Serrana arm shoulder pork than a Serrano ham. To a ham is obtained 50 % of yields, in other words: if ham weighs 7.5 kg, you will obtain 3.75 kg of ham. While in an arm shoulder pork, it is obtained around 55% - 60 %. The arm shoulder pork has more depletion than ham.
● Arm shoulder pork is more difficult to cut with a knife than ham. Cut an arm shoulder pork with a knife and obtain the maximum efficiency require skill and experience. This means that we find sliced arm shoulder pork by a machine, while ham we used to find cut by a knife or sliced by a machine.
Benefits from the arm shoulder ham:
Of all the benefits that arm shoulder ham provides, the one that I value the most is the one that provokes happiness and helps to struggle depression and stress. It is due to eating ham to maintain the levels of tryptophan, precursor amino acid of the serotonin. Eat ham and be happy.
1.- It provokes happiness. It helps to overcome stress and depression
2.- It helps to improve the levels of cholesterol
3.- It is a source of vitamins B (B1, B2, B3, B6) and vitamin D
4.- It is a rich source in proteins of easy assimilation
5.- It provides a lot of minerals (iron, zinc, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium…)
6.- It can be prevent vascular illnesses, since it has a high content of antioxidant polyphenols and natural anti-inflammatories at the vascular level
7.- Low levels of carbohydrates
8.- It is perfect to prevent osteoporosis
How to cut Serrana arm shoulder pork?
We explain to you on the web page how to open a shoulder blade and how to cut a Serrana arm shoulder pork. You will find it easy to start ham and cut it with our indications and cut it for leaving only the bone. You will also learn how to put the shoulder blade in the ham holder.
Gastronomic Spain offers you Serranas arm shoulder porks with quality:
It is true that the Iberian arm shoulder pork is better, but there are excellent Serranas arm shoulder porks with a great quality and delicious taste. The Serranas certified arm shoulder porks by the Determination of Protected Origin of ham from Teruel or Gran Reserva arm shoulder porks from Eresma have a delicious taste, in addition to the economic price.
Gastronomic Spain is the store of hams and shoulder blades, a cheap leader in Europe. We have the biggest offer of cured arm shoulder pork. You will find all types of Serrano shoulder blade.
