Italian Culinary Adventures is an authority in guided tours of the best food and wine Italy has to offer. Our incredible guides have been curating one-of-a-kind culinary tours for decades. Each tour is specifically designed to enrich your knowledge of the food and communities of Emila Romagna, providing a truly immersive experience to all who partake. This is not just a simple food and wine tour – but a true cultural immersion program designed to enrich the mind, body, and soul. A common question folks tend to ask during our culinary tours is how to determine the difference between prosciutto and parma ham? The answer may not be what you expect.
Essentially, parma ham and prosciutto are the same product, but not the same food. So what does that mean exactly? To simplify it: Parma ham is a variety of prosciutto. To eliminate any confusion, our culinary tours provide you with a more thorough explanation of the differences in regional techniques and other differentiating factors.
Prosciutto Versus Parma
Our expert tour guides note that while both names are from Italy, ‘Parma’ is a name of a city and ‘prosciutto’ is another name for ham. The names are used interchangeably, but the main reason you might see parma more often is that Italians are referring to a variety of ham that originated from the city of Parma.
Every city in Italy has their own version of prosciutto. And they all taste different too. Parma ham is one of the more well known varieties. It is important to learn the varieties of prosciutto from Italy. Below are a few types of prosciutto you can fid throughout the country:
- Prosciutto di Parma
- Prosciutto di San Daniele
- Prosciutto Toscano
- Prosciutto Sauris
- Prosciutto di Modena
- Prosciutto di Carpegna
- Prosciutto Veneto Berico-Euganeo
- Prosciutto di Norcia
- Crudo di Cuneo
- Jambon de Bosses
All of these types of prosciutto come with their own different colors, textures, and unique flavor profiles.
What is Parma Ham?
Parma ham can be substituted with another form of prosciutto. Prosciutto is a type of cured pork or ham, and Parma ham is simply a type of prosciutto. When you book our culinary tours, our experienced guides, plus the chefs they introduce you to, will ensure that you have an understanding of parma ham and its uses.
It is the sweetest type of Italian ham. And it tends to take a longer time to cure because chefs use only salt for the curing. Over time, we have seen Parma ham evolve as the highest quality compared to other prosciutto varieties. This is because it does not contain any artificial chemicals or coloring ingredients. We would be remiss if we didn’t mention that this type of prosciutto is also the most valuable (and expensive) variety found anywhere in Italy.
Schedule an Italian Culinary Tour Today
Our culinary tours will show you all of the signature foods from the Emilia Romagna region, and expand upon the subtle differences between Parma ham and prosciutto. And don’t worry- there will be plenty of opportunities to eat the ham, as well as learn about it. To book your culinary tour today, simply call Italian Culinary Adventures at 1-818-350-2806. We are ready to create the itinerary of a lifetime for you and your travel group.