Britains love Parma Ham

It must be love: the British devoured over 12 million packets of Parma Ham last year, making us the biggest consumers of pre-sliced Parma Ham in the world outside off Italy! Our love affair with Parma Ham is truly extraordinary with a huge increase in sales year on year with a 27% increase in 2007.

Parma Ham is the ultimate fast food transforming a simple piece of fruit, cheese or sandwich into something extra special. Why not try wrapping wafer thin slices of Parma Ham around hot buttered toast soldiers to dip into soft boiled eggs for a delicious breakfast treat? Perfect for surprising loved ones on Valentine’s Day!

Delicious Parma Ham is a completely natural food with nothing added except salt. Making a Parma ham is a long and painstaking process. The curing is controlled carefully so that the ham absorbs only enough salt to preserve it to retain its distinctive sweet flavour.

Parma Ham, Prosciutto di Parma is produced in the hills surrounding the Italian town of Parma. The air in the Parmesan hills is unique, dry and sweet-smelling with breezes from the Apennine mountains creating perfect environmental conditions for a natural “drying” of the hams.

The unique taste of Parma Ham is dependent on the traditional production process passed down from Roman times, carefully controlled by the Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma. Only hams that have passed stringent curing regulations approved by the EU can be awarded the stamp of the Ducal crown – a five pointed coronet logo with PARMA in the centre which is branded onto the ham’s skin. The Ducal Crown is now a certification trademark.