Southern California has its jamón ibérico

INTRICATELY marbled dark mahogany folds of ham, each with a generous edge of satiny cured fat, peel off the antique slicer at the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills. This is jamón ibérico, the legendary dry-cured Spanish ham that until last December was unavailable here because, although Spanish producers have been curing jamón ibérico for centuries, Spain had no production facilities approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

By Amy Scattergood

March 5, 2008