There you are in your ANDALUCIA VILLAS, overlooking the sea or maybe in the centre of town. There is no doubt you will spend a lot of your time wandering the sites of the city or maybe down on the beach all day long. At the end of the day it's off to some restaurant or other: after all, you are here for your yearly vacation and time well deserved.

There may be a time though that you may be bored with going out every night looking for places to eat trying out new restaurants or maybe you would like to try something new save a bit of money. Have a picnic on the beach instead of buying hamburgers at lunch time. In the evening try a quiet night in a bottle of your favourite Spanish wine and some small picnic pieces, anything from cheese to bread and even ham that you purchased at the supermarket. One thing for sure is no matter where you go hanging in most of the butcher's shops or on the counter tops of bars, especially the tapas ones, you would have seen the leg or shoulder of ham, most of the time sweating on the counter top waiting for you to try a slice.

To qualify as a real Iberica Ham, the pig has to be from the Black Iberian or at least 75% Iberian if crossbred. The king of Spanish ham is the Iberico ham or jamon iberico: taken from pigs born and cared for on the Iberian peninsula, usually found in the south west of Spain and in parts of Portugal. Fed on grass, herbs, acorns and roots depending on the required flavour, the pigs are often fed a special diet of acorns or olives giving them a distinctive flavour weeks before slaughter. Iberico hams are cured in the traditional way and, depending on the grade, they would have been cured for anything between two to four years. The end result an exquisite experience gastronomically with an undeniable flavour.

The top quality Iberico hams are generally handpicked and tested for their maturity prior to being delivered to the various shops throughout Spain. Of course not only is Iberica Ham probably one of the best, it is also one of the most expensive on the market. You could find a leg for anywhere between 200 Euros for a 7kg leg to an astronomical 500 Euros plus.

There are many other types of Iberica Ham that can be found in the supermarkets these have usually been fed with a mix of commercial foods and acorns and the curing time cut down in order to keep the price down. You could find those next to your ANDALUCIA VILLAS in the local supermarket for anything from 20 Euros and upward. For those without having tried, the difference is subtle although once you have tried the more expensive brands you begin to get a nose for the quality in much the same way you could savour a good wine, which in turn would be the ideal accompaniment.