Parma, Italy
Mirella Galloni is the queen of Parma Ham. She sits on the board of the production consortium, she travels the world, and she makes - with her family - a serious amount of top quality Parma Ham.
But whenever we visit her in Langhirano, she makes time for us. We think she has a sneaking affection for this peculiar British family, who despite Brexit, despite the language barrier, and the simple fact that we are not Italian - for goodness sake - manage to showcase and sell her products in London.
The Galloni tasting hall, with hundreds of hams hanging up to the rafters, and with the music and light show, is a remarkable experience.
Fun fact - our logo features a ham testing needle made from horse bone. The needle is inserted into the curing hams to enable the inspector to check progress. Horse bone is porus, so it absorbs and releases scent quickly. The smell is the key - spoiled hams are quickly identified in this way.
Parma ham is simply made from pork and salt.
However, it is the expertise and precision in the curing and aging process that make it a true masterpiece.
We’ve sold the Galloni 24 month aged ‘Riserva’ Parma ham for some years. Recently, we started taking a 30 moth aged product, to enable us to offer customers a choice. The 30 month product is less soft - more ‘meaty’ - and some UK customers like this quality. This product is only available ‘bone in’, so we have to extract the bone, and then tie up the hams ready for slicing. We are confident that we are the only business in the UK that does this - we’d love to be proved wrong. Challenge accepted..!
Gallono Prosiutto
