Cuore di spalle

A type of Casentino prosciutto made from the ‘heart of the shoulder’ and seasoned in a dense wrapper of pepper and other spices. I bought the last one from Mastra Checcerina in Poppi for 34 - no call it 30 - euros. Once the outer coating of fat and tougher meat is cut away it produces a succulent moist -but not too moist- wonderfully flavoured ham. It makes bread go a long way.

It’s a slight hassle to have to cut away and slice but that keeps consumption down to the ‘really wanted’ as opposed to opportunistic grazing.