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PGI — Pays de la Loire
Jambon de Vendée: a prestigious charcuterie with an aroma of yesteryear, cured with coastal sea salt, shaped into a parallelepiped, and dried slowly between two boards as in days of old.
Charcuterie speciality from Pays de la Loire, PGI (IGP) since 2014.
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According to the PGI (IGP) specification, the dry-cured ham technique was already known to the Gauls; the Romans are said to have learned the secret on the Atlantic coast, where salt was abundant, before spreading it throughout the Empire. Pig farming, firmly established in the bocages of the West, and the numerous salt marshes of the Vendée coast very early on gave ham an important place in the local diet. Traditionally, however, it was a farmhouse product intended for family consumption or for a local market, its recipe passed down by oral tradition: the earliest written records mentioning ‘Jambon de Vendée’ date back only to the second half of the 19th century, already describing a dry-cured ham salted with sea salt, flavoured with herbs and eau-de-vie, with a short drying period.
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To improve the stability of the product, its production had to evolve technically — a transformation made possible in the 1960s and 1970s by the development of refrigeration equipment, temperature control, and the introduction of saltpetre and reducing sugars as preservatives. It was above all in the 1980s, with the large-scale commercialisation of the product outside its Vendée heartland, that the sales name ‘Jambon de Vendée’ appeared; commercial development was then spectacular, driven notably by Charcuterie Vendéenne (+30% per year from 1984 onwards) and production rising from 90 tonnes in 1985 to 500 tonnes in 1988. To regulate this boom, an application for inclusion in the Code des usages de la charcuterie was lodged in 1985; the DGCCRF approved it in 1987, recognising ‘the consistency of practices for more than a century [and] the typical character of the product’. Vendée operators subsequently obtained a Label Rouge in 1994, before initiating steps towards PGI recognition about ten years later.
The ‘Jambon de Vendée’ PGI was registered by European Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1052/2014 of 2 October 2014, published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU L 292) on 8 October 2014 — the culmination of efforts by Vendée charcutiers since the 1980s to develop and achieve recognition for the product. The approved specification notably singles out ‘os coulé’ boning, manual dry-salting with sea salt, pressing between two boards that gives the ham its characteristic parallelepiped shape, and a deliberately short production cycle (48 to 80 days between salting and the end of drying).
The Vendée terroir combines two inseparable coastal elements:
Appearance
Boneless ham (boned using the method known as ‘de l'os coulé’), with a parallelepiped shape and oval contours obtained by pressing between two boards. Light brown surface coated with the spice blend; when sliced, a light red colour with a brown rim due to the spices and the presence of white veins of fat.
Aroma
Fruity notes of eau-de-vie and rubbing spices (cinnamon, pepper, thyme, bay leaf).
Taste
Subtle salty flavour, resulting from careful manual dry-salting; no smoky notes, as smoking is prohibited by the specification.
Texture
Soft, tender and juicy, not very firm — a direct consequence of a deliberately short production cycle (48 to 80 days between salting and the end of drying).
traditional presentation, also sold in portions, diced or in strips
enjoyed raw, as an aperitif or on a platter
pan-fried or grilled, especially over a wood fire with mogettes de Vendée
method known as ‘de l'os coulé’, which respects the integrity of muscle tissue
fresh trimmed ham, dry-salted by hand with sea salt
rubbed with eau-de-vie and a mandatory spice blend (pepper, cinnamon, thyme, bay leaf)
short and deliberately not prolonged, minimum 5 days at a maximum temperature of 37°C, unsmoked
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Jambon de Vendée can be enjoyed raw in thin slices, as well as cooked, pan-fried or grilled in thicker slices — this dual option, left to the consumer's choice, is one of its distinctive features. Grilled over a wood fire and accompanied by mogettes de Vendée (white beans) cooked in a cauldron, it is an iconic dish of traditional Vendée gastronomy.
Since: 2014
Area covered: Entirety of Vendée (85), neighbouring cantons of Loire-Atlantique (44) and Maine-et-Loire (49)
Key requirements: ‘Os coulé’ boning, manual salting with sea salt, pressing between boards, short drying (48–80 days), unsmoked
No producer is listed for this product yet.
