| Headword | Ham from Modena |
| Domain and subdomain | Food – meat products |
| Grammatical label | Noun, sing. |
| Definition | Cured meat made from the leg of the pig being trimmed, salted, dried in special rooms and matured. (1) |
| Note | The production process is described in the Production Specification and provides for a precise methodology. The pig, from which the fresh leg used in the preparation of Modena Ham is obtained, must come only from 10 regions of Central and Northern Italy, it must be at least 9 months old, weigh on average about 160 kg and be healthy, white-bred, fed in the quarter preceding slaughter with substances that limit the fat intake to less than 10%, rested and fasted. After slaughter, the leg is cut and then sent to the production facility where it is immediately subjected to the necessary checks. (2) The designation of origin “Prosciutto di Modena” is legally protected by Law no. 11 of 12th January 1990. (3) |
| Context | Modena PDO (protected designation of origin) prosciutto [ham] is a great delicacy whose production is subject to a detailed set of rules and regulations. This special form of cured meat is made from the thighs of pigs of the “Large White” breed, born and raised exclusively in Italy. Only after aging for at least fourteen months is prosciutto [ham] eligible to receive the PDO designation. (4) |
| Phonetic transcription | [ˈhæm frəm ‘mᴐ:dena] |
| Synonym/ variants | ND |
| Etymology | Old English ham, hom (originally denoting the back of the knee), from a Germanic base meaning ‘be crooked’. In the late 15th century, the term came to denote the back of the thigh, hence the thigh or hock of an animal. (5) |
| Product image |  (6) |
| Equivalents | ITA Prosciutto di Modena ESP Jamón de Módena FRA Jambon de Modène RO Prosciutto di Modena |
| Note of the equivalents | A superordinate is used, the type of ham is not specified. |
| Institution | Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali |
| Date of the card | 27/07/2021 |
| Last modified | 25/04/2023 |
| Author Revisor | Chiara Buschi Gloria Zanella |
| Sources | (1) AA. VV., Dizionario di enogastronomia in cinque lingue, Academia Universa Press – Edizioni Plan, Milano, 2012; (2) https://consorzioprosciuttomodena.it/il-processo-produttivo/ (3) https://consorzioprosciuttomodena.it/il-marchio-di-tutela-dop/ (4) https://www.visitmodena.it/en/discover-modena/land-of-flavors/visit-a-ham-factory (5) https://www.google.com/search?q=ham+etymology&rlz=1C1FKPE_itIT932IT932&oq=ham+etymo&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i512j0i22i30l8.4057j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 (6) http://www.winefoodemiliaromagna.com/it/prodotti/prosciutto-di-modena-dop |
