I’d been asked to buy some Jamón for a friend in London, so on my last day, I went to Germans Gracia, a Xarcuteria located near to the friends I’ve been staying with in Barcelona – they buy all their charcuterie here.
Germans Gracia is a family run business, established in 1960, which has become so successful that they’ve opened several shops in and around Barcelona.
As you can see, the shop is full of embutidos (sausages) and cured meats from all over Spain).
There’s an extensive range of quesos (cheeses), note the tetilla (from Galicia on the Atlantic coast)
and jamón – legs, shoulders, portions and slices.
Inside, every inch is crammed full
of the finest produce Cataluña and Spain have to offer.
Here’s the jamón I was after. Prices start at about €44 per kilo for jamón serrano, air dried mountain ham, made from white landrace pigs. The price goes up considerably for jamón ibérico, air died ham made from Iberian black pigs. Iberian ham is arguably, the finest in the world – the very best being jamón de bellota, from Iberian pigs which have been allowed to graze freely on a diet of acorns, wild herbs and grasses.
Jamón de bellota contains a high concentration of oleic acid (55% plus), a major constituent in olive oil. The very best jamón de bellota can cost in excess of €250 per kilo!
Germans Gracia is at: C/ Torres i Amat 1, 08001 Barcelona.
Further info: I was interested by an article I saw recently, about an American pig farmer who has imported Iberian black pigs to Georgia and is feeding them local peanuts, as there are only a limited quantity of acorns to be had. Having tested the peanuts in Spain they have been found to contain a perfect match of fats and carbohydrates in comparison to the Spanish acorn.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, jamón and all that. But I’d like to hear more about the embutidos. 🙂
Ha ha – I’ll remember that for next time!
Wow! Looks like a treasure trove of a store. I would be like the proverbial kid in a candy store.
Definitely – it’s a candy store for grownups.
Looks amazing! Couldn’t afford Jamón like that but have tasted some of the costlier stuff a couple of times. We’re off to Las Alpujarras next week for Big Man’s birthday so hopefully we’ll be eating lots of very good jamon!
Me too! That’s where having a family pig makes sense. I’m very tempted to have a pig and take it on a lead round all the parks in North London, foraging for acorns.
Wish Big Man a happy birthday from me – I hope you have a fantastic time in the mountains.
Thank you! Love the idea of you taking your pig out for walks in North London 😁
It would give the dogs something to think about!
Which of the ibericos did you buy in the end. We bought some fantastic Bellota in Malaga in a specialist shop. I paid 14 Euros for 100 grams. It was fabulous. We bought some bog standard serrano which was 1 Euro for 100 grams and boy! not a patch on the Bellota.
Hi Sue – I was given £60 to buy bellota, so I bought three different types from Extremadura, Jabugo and Salamanca.
We were in Santander and Oviedo last week. We had tapas of jamón de bellota. It was sensational good.
Lovely shop. Great display, showing retail as an art form.
…and carving it is an art form in itself.
Thanks Conor – I’m sure you had a good time!
What a lovely shop, I’d go crazy trying to decide which ham or sausage I’d buy. But, what a good crazy it would be.
You’d love it – they give you samples!
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