Saw this in New Jersey today.
This is the second year we buy this Jamon. We love it and consider it an excellent value. Both times the Jamon has turned up to have good flavor and consistency. It is a good deal from a reputable company. I decided to buy knife in Spain last summer because I wanted a better knife than the one that comes with the set (even though the included one works fine too.) Be careful when cutting it! It takes practice. There is even a link in youtube by Noel on how to cut it. Just google it. We used to have our own support. the one that comes with the exact same quality (we paid 50 bucks just for our support the year before!) This same Noel leg of Jamon is sold for twice as much from other vendors (including Amazon.) I can only guess how they can maintain the price so low. I believe that Costco volume added to the fact that Costco has also opened their first stores in Spain, accounts for the great quality-price ratio.
I just came here to make a positive review and I was frankly shocked of how much fabrication and speculation is in this thread. Noel is a big company that belongs to consortium of Jamon Serrano in Spain which has certain standards of quality and processing. You can check their website. In this thread, there is a link to a legitimate Jamon recall.Wow! This is akin to looking for discussion about the quality of spinach in the US and finding a link about an e-coli recall. This is not the standard!! Costco’s Jamon is a very good product backed up and by two reputable companies sold at an excellent price. If you buy it, you will likely be happy with your purchase. People should be more responsible about what they post in the internet. An unfounded suspicion of a non-existent mental fabrication has sat on this thread for about two years.
And it will continue to sit right where it is. You come here and accuse me of mental fabrication.
¿Quién eres y por qué eliges a insultarme cuando no me conoces?
I bought one and opened it on Thanksgiving. It’s not the greatest jamon I’ve ever had, but it’s reasonably good, it’s $100 and it’s a lot of fun. Cutting it thin is going to take a lot of practice. The only real issue is how my family of five is going to eat this whole thing since we can’t have any parties and share it.
Do you work for Noel?
I don’t see that there’s anything at all wrong with being curious about how a producer can be both high quality and low cost, and wanting to dig a little deeper. If you find all is legit, that’s great. But asking the question - “speculation,” if you choose to put it that way - is perfectly natural and respectable, especially when you consider all the illegitimate products and advertising that does exist out there.
I’m always suspicious when someone does a drive by … commenting for the first time ever solely to promote a specific product and in this case, to insult a valued member of our community who a few years ago attempted to learn more about this new item at Costco for us.
All of us who appreciate artisanal foods and wines understand there are trade offs in cost and quality between mass produced items and the more carefully crafted products we value. Understanding what precisely are the trade offs is just being a good consumer — and being able to learn from someone we trust like Nola about the differences is great … and definitely in no way calls for such treatment out of the blue. I’d love to know the answer to Linda’s question!
Ignore any naysayers.
You indicate substantial knowledge. Are you, by analogy to famous dining reviewers, like our Dr. Big Jay Miller for Spanish wines, but for Spanish cured hams?
If so, welcome aboard.
I own a Chinatown noodle shop, plus a Japanese negam-aki grille, and am looking to expand into new cuisines.
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It’s fine, I think. I’d prefer it to most of the sliced cured things you can readily get in vacupaks. It isn’t in the same universe as the $550 version certainly – don’t expect miracles. But it’s delicious enough and it’s just fun having a jamon on a stand.
I’m in iberico ham business for more than 10 years and honestly I would not expect even flavor but just a salty meat for $99 (ham holder and knife included).
We run couple brands in ham. Fermin has a wonderful serrano ham with 24 months curation period. I’d recommend you give a chance to Fermin. We have big legs (18Lb) for around $285. I can provide more information if you want.
Bienvenido Víctor,
Welcome to Wine Berserkers! I also import Jamon Serrano from Seron, Almeria. Can you tell us more about the Ibéricos? Do you import any ibérico fresco (secreto o presa)?
Again welcome.
Hi Nola
Thank you Nola! We do not import directly the iberico. As you probably know the process with USAD and previously with thw FDA certification is pretty hard to get done. We run a retail and restaurants business lines, mainly two brands, Fermin and Montaraz. Both are high quality ibericos, and thanks to the FDA certification process they count with the highest standards in quality and tracking processes.
They are both ibericos (in the different forms/seals, white, green, red, black) but different curation processes, and at the end you will find different intensity flavors when just open the vacuum packing. Montaraz has a longer curation process than Fermin, which means more intense flavor, but also lower weights and more cured meat.
Nola, where do you run your serrano ham import business? it could be interesting to chat.