Culatello: a Treasured Cured Meat with Ancient Roots
Culatello is one of the most prized Italian deli meats, made from the rear part of the pork leg, with skin and excess fat removed. Its slow aging yields a soft, velvety texture and a delicate, refined taste.
The most famous is Culatello di Zibello PDO, produced only in eight towns of the Bassa Parmense area near the Po River, where this tradition dates back over 700 years.
The region’s long, cold, foggy winters and hot, humid summers create the ideal conditions for natural aging, developing the culatello’s renowned aromatic complexity.
How culatello is made
Like prosciutto, culatello is made from the pig’s hind leg, specifically the portion between the so-called “fiocco” and the shank. After removing the skin and bone, the meat is stripped from excess fat and precisely dissected, in order to isolate the most noble and prized part, intended for the production of culatello.
This is followed by a trimming and shaping phase, essential operations for defining the shape and ensuring even curing. After the femur is removed, the salting process begins: the meat is coated with salt and left to rest for two or three days, during which time it is manually massaged to promote absorption.
Once the curing process is complete, the culatello is stuffed into a natural casing, hand-tied with thick string and shaped into the iconic pear shape.
From this point on, the slow aging process begins, that generally lasts no less than ten months. During this final phase, the culatello develops its unique and unmistakable flavor profile.