Oscar-Winning Organic Ham

At around $6,000 NZD per leg, and with only 80 legs for sale every year, Spanish farmer Eduardo Donato produces the most expensive ham in the world. But his organic ham ‘Dehesa Maladua’, from a rare breed he helped to save from extinction, is so good it won a food Oscar (a ‘Biofach’) in 2016.

The pigs are free to roam the countryside all day long, and feed exclusively on acorns and grass from the fields. They breathe fresh air, drink only clean spring water and bathe in natural clay. Eduardo calls his pigs “full-time athletes” because they walk an average of 14 kilometers up and down the oak covered hills, every day.

Asked for the secret of his success, Mr Donato said: “Patience, passion and pleasure.”