Crimean oysters, Kuban jamon and Ladoga mozzarella. What it is
Entrepreneur Dmitry Aksyonov - about the ideology of premium products and the positive effect of sanctions
We have been looking for a long time for an entrepreneur who would say these words: “I won’t lie, the sanctions have made a positive contribution to the development of my business. The exchange rate is also in our favor.” And so they found it. Dmitry Aksenov, owner of the online store of meat delicacies “Vyalim Myaso”, told Biz360 about how “Russian jamon” was forged. In this story there was a place for a smokehouse, an iron casting factory, goods for handicrafts, Sportmaster, Yulmart and even the Gold Rush program on the Discovery channel.
Dmitry Aksenov, 32 years old, owner and director of the company "Let's dry the meat". Born in the town of Kolchugino, Vladimir region. Graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Technology of Vladimir State University with a degree in Foundry Production of Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metals. Before launching his own business, he worked in marketing, participated in the OZON, Sportmaster, and Yulmart projects. Married, daughter is two years old.
Crisis of my dreams
I come from a small town in the Vladimir region. We lived in our own house. My father always kept a large farm: cows, sheep, pigs, chickens. We dried the meat in the cellar. They smoked with hot smoke in a homemade smokehouse made from a 200-liter barrel, and with cold smoke in a bathhouse.
Smoking pigs with carcasses is an ancient method that my father inherited from his father, and he inherited from his. It happens in a bathhouse, the carcasses are hung from the ceiling, the chimney is closed, alder chips are placed in the stove, lit, and then the stove door is tightly closed and the wood chips begin to smolder. Smoking lasts from two to five days, depending on the weight of the carcass. Periodically you need to go into the bathhouse and add wood chips to the stove. The bathhouse then smells like smoked meats for a very long time.
I am a fan of meat, I believe that fangs are given to humans in order to tear pieces of meat. I sincerely don’t understand vegans, I’ll say more - I’m afraid of them. I love meat in any form. I love boiled beef with homemade horseradish, lamb shish kebab, beef stroganoff, jellied meat. I'm crazy about dry-cured sausages and salami. Well, and, of course, I really love dried meat, which I make myself.
I guess I always dreamed of living in my own home, far from the bustle of the city, like when I was a child, smoking sausage and drying meat. In any case, the first step has already been taken.
In 2014, after well-known events, Russia introduced sanctions against European products. There was a big uproar on the Internet - people were grieving that they would no longer be able to freely buy jamon and cheeses. I decided that since the market niche was empty, it meant that I could occupy it. Since I am not as strong in retail trade as I am in online commerce, I chose the appropriate distribution channel.
There is a feeling that the cheese market has turned out to be more active than the dried meat market - we constantly hear about small local productions. If you look in more detail, most local cheese dairies produce young cheeses because... It doesn’t take much time to develop the technology. Parmesan - with its ripening period of several years - no one undertakes to produce. It’s the same with meat: it’s very difficult to develop a technology when you have to wait several months for the results of an experiment.
Long road to meat
After school, I entered the regional university to study “Foundry production of ferrous and non-ferrous metals”. At the time of my admission, this was the highest paid specialty in our town. By the end of the training, the plant had half collapsed and wages had fallen. However, I don’t regret anything - it was not for nothing that the Soviet school of training engineers was considered one of the strongest in the world. The main thing is that the university taught me to think structurally and set priorities. The topic of my diploma is “Development of a plan for an iron casting workshop with a capacity of 10,000 tons of suitable products per year.” The first experience of creating your own enterprise, albeit on paper.
I was invited to the Kaliningrad region to work at an iron casting plant as a foundry shop technologist. I worked there for a year and a half, subordinate to 37 adult men, shop workers. This was my first experience of leading people - not always successful, but very useful. In 2007, I returned to Vladimir - mainly because of the low salary of an engineer. He got a job as a sales manager, selling help desk services. The experience of direct sales and communication with clients was also useful in my subsequent career.
In 2009 I moved to live in Moscow. Created and promoted electronic stores, participated in the launch of such projects as ozon.travel And sportmaster.ru. Was involved in Internet marketing: advertising, usability audit, search engine optimization, etc.
In 2010 I created a company "Aksyonov PRO", engaged in consulting in the field of e-commerce. This project still exists today. I handed it over to a team of young specialists and have a small percentage of their activities.
Internet marketing is a business with a low barrier to entry. A large number of companies have appeared that are doing this. I have moved to a higher level and am involved in project management for business development in general.
First store
I opened my first online store in Moscow. My wife gave me the idea of selling handicrafts, and she also came up with the name Fadeno. The project lasted for more than a year. Since there was no start-up capital, I did everything myself. I received an order, went to the wholesaler, bought the goods and sent them to the customer.
At a certain point, I began to understand that for serious development the project needed money. I started looking for investments and got acquainted with the world of funds and business angels. It was then that I learned unit economics (calculating the economic indicators of a startup per client), financial planning and forecasting results.
Five proven tips from Dmitry Aksenov for beginners
regarding financial planning
Be sure to calculate the economics of one unit of production; it doesn’t matter whether it’s production or sales. You need to understand how much the price of this unit includes costs for raw materials, advertising, logistics, salaries, rent, loan payments, etc. This is the only way to see if your price is competitive in the market. If not, then your production is inefficient.
There are two types of business - for earning money from operating activities and for earning money from investments (selling a business). You need to clearly understand what kind of business you are building and plan your actions accordingly. Investments come in the hope of rapid growth, and earnings from business activities, as a rule, do not provide rapid growth. Competitors need to be divided according to the same principle: companies with large investment purses can work in the red for a long time, capturing the market. Trying to compete with them on price means ruining your business.
In business, like nowhere else, the rule “for one beaten, they give two unbeaten” works. It’s rare that someone manages to open a cool business on the first try. You need to gain experience and regard each attempt as a step towards the top.
No two companies are the same. You can’t look at your competitors and try to make everything a carbon copy, like theirs. They are already on the market, they have a brand, customer loyalty. If you don't offer something new, it's not worth starting.
Don’t be fooled by the low barrier to entry into business. The low threshold market is the most difficult because the competition here is very high. The threshold for entry refers not only to the start-up capital, but also to your competencies: if you do something better than others, go for it.
Having digested the information received, I realized that with a product such as handicraft goods - or, more precisely, its low margin - with an increase in turnover there will be no increase in profit. Related expenses will eat up all the revenue.
The majority of stores in this segment are very small retail outlets with a turnover of up to 200 thousand rubles per month. Major players have their own developed retail networks. The main turnover is made up of embroidery kits: the wholesale price is 1–2 thousand rubles, a markup of 50%, which is approximately equal to the costs of advertising and delivery.
Fadeno opened in 2012 and closed in 2014. I entered this business with virtually no investment, and left without profit. A zero return was submitted to the tax office. The project was closed. I had a good experience.
Moving to St. Petersburg
The next point on my life’s path was St. Petersburg, where I took a good position as marketing director in the company Topbrands. The company specialized in high fashion. Thanks to her, I understood what a product should be like for a premium buyer.
The premium segment is working with a sophisticated client. Unlike the mass market, you cannot compete here on price; the main tools are quality of service and a “beautiful story.” When purchasing a premium product, the client wants to first satisfy his emotional needs. For example, sausage should not just be tasty. Premium sausage is a guarantee of high quality, exclusiveness, service and limited edition. This is how the client feels chosen.
For example, if a client does not like the quality of the product, I guarantee a refund - we write about this on the website. This has never happened before. But I think it gives clients confidence.
From Topbrands I left at the height of the crisis and sanctions. The owners and I had different views on how to act and develop in difficult times. In general, it was a mutual decision.
Finally, about meat
So, in 2014, people realized that they were deprived of jamon and cheeses. Personally, the lack of European products did not affect me much. I quickly found a replacement for them. Russian producers make very tasty cheeses - I, for example, like them farm-cheese factory "Village". I decided to make meat products myself.
There is a feeling that the cheese market has turned out to be more active than the market for deli meats - here and there we hear about small local cheese factories. But look carefully: most of them produce young cheeses, since it doesn’t take much time to perfect the technology. Nobody is in a hurry to produce Parmesan, with its ripening period of several years. It’s the same with meat: it’s very difficult to develop technology when you have to wait several months for the result of an experiment.
After the introduction of sanctions, we have almost no dried meat “like in Europe”. In Russia, they traditionally dried venison, horse meat, and hunting products, rather than pork and beef.
Dried meat is a ready-to-eat product without heat treatment. Excess moisture is removed during the process of ripening meat in the fresh air. The ripening time depends on many factors; the process can take from one month to several years.
Now we produce several types of products with a so-called short aging period (from 30 days) - this is lump dry-cured meat. Unlike jamon and prosciutto, where the whole ham is used, we dry pieces weighing 2-3 kilograms. The reason is time: the drying period for a ham is a year.
Dried meat is a long-term storage product. I can’t reveal all the secrets, but thanks to the salting technology, it has a characteristic taste and does not spoil for a long time (4 months in a vacuum). The most important thing here is not to over-salt the meat. We do not use artificial ingredients: only natural salt and natural spices. The technology allows them to be absorbed into the product, retaining the required amount of moisture. Simply put, our meat is moderately salted, moderately soft, moderately tender and moderately dried.
Quality in this business is not just empty words. The end customer of our products is, first and foremost, a gourmet. A non-poor person who seeks variety in his diet.
Of course, we have competitors - this is the market. The winner will be the one who provides the maximum number of advantages: product quality, level of service. We set ourselves the goal of meeting the level of the best European manufacturers. They say: jamon. But jamon is a very broad concept. There are a huge number of jamon producers in Spain, and the quality of this meat varies greatly. The same applies to prosciutto in Italy.
Surveillance pipe
The “Valim Meat” project started in November 2014. I was creating an online store and at the same time writing a business concept. The name and logo are also my work. I had no comrades. I’ll say more - none of my friends believed in this idea at first: food production is associated with a large number of bureaucratic obstacles, and the demand for this type of product was questioned.
For food production in Russia you need:
Documents giving the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity (an individual entrepreneur is sufficient);
Declaration of conformity with the requirements of the technical regulations of the Customs Union (TR CU);
STO – organization standard: a document regulating the entire production cycle;
Veterinary certificates - for selling products in stores and restaurants;
Production certificate from Rospotrebnadzor.
Rumors about bureaucratic obstacles were approximately true. It is very difficult to collect the entire list of documents needed to start a meat shop, and it is especially difficult to cope with the greed of veterinarians.
Food production in Russia is controlled by several departments at once - the Ministry of Agriculture, Rospotrebnadzor, Veterinary Supervision. Each of them makes its own amendments to laws, issues clarifications and letters that can easily contradict each other. For example, the veterinary station is trying to impose its veterinarian on our staff, although according to the basic law we are not obliged to do this.
Enterprise economy
The initial capital of the enterprise was 800 thousand rubles from my personal savings. This money was used to rent the premises (40 thousand per month), prepare it to meet the requirements of Rospotrebnadzor (180 thousand rubles), purchase equipment (refrigerators, tables, shelving, packaging equipment - only 400 thousand rubles).
In the end, we still didn’t have enough money, so we worked with our first wholesale clients on an advance payment and pre-order basis: we received payment for a batch of goods, manufactured them, and only then shipped them.
I rented space for a workshop in the village of Enkolovo, Leningrad region. More precisely, in a former general store. There was even an idea to work in a traditional hut, but officials did not allow it. Enkolovo is well located: relatively far from busy highways and large industries, while only 34 km from St. Petersburg.
Up to 70% of the production cost comes from the cost of raw materials (meat loses 40% of its original weight during the cooking process). 30% is logistics, salaries and social payments, salt, spices, depreciation of equipment, taxes (we use the simplified tax system).
We deliver orders to wholesalers at our own expense. Retail buyers formally pay for EMS services of Russian Post - 300 rubles. In fact, the minimum cost of EMS delivery is 450 rubles from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and more expensive to other cities. These 300 rubles are more likely a confirmation of the seriousness of the buyer’s intentions. We will now introduce online payment and delivery will be free.
To understand: the cost of preparing a kilogram of dry-cured beef is about 1000 rubles, the retail price is 2200.
Retail prices for Vyalim Myaso products
Dried pork “Like Jamon” - 900 rubles per 0.5 kg.
Dried beef “Fillet Mignon” - 1200 rubles per 0.5 kg.
Dried pork ham - 2300 rubles per 0.5 kg.
Salchichon (dry-cured sausage) - 1300 rubles per 0.5 kg.
We sell about half a ton of finished products per month. Initially, when calculating the concept, I imagined the balance of sales: 40% - stores, 40% - HoReCa (restaurants, catering), 20% - retail. Today, orders from retail customers account for 10% of the total, the rest is B2B. The majority of sales (up to 90%) come from Kak Jamon pork jerky and Filet Mignon beef jerky. These are our main products, we promote them.
Products are sold to shops and restaurants 20-50% cheaper than the retail price. How accurate depends on many factors: terms of payment, volume of purchases, willingness to wait for an order for several weeks. In addition, dry-cured pork neck (Coppa) is today available only to wholesalers (900 rubles/kg).
We have not yet reached self-sufficiency; all profits are invested in development. We continue to purchase equipment - we need a more productive vacuum packer and slicing machine. The packaging needs to be updated. I really need my own transport - I’m just calculating the leasing costs for it.
Theoretically, we can produce 1.5–2 tons of products per month, but we don’t - there is no working capital for such production volumes.
Farmers without acorns
My meat suppliers are farms from the Vladimir and Voronezh regions. I met them a long time ago, even before I started doing this business. I don’t personally go to select products - I make a request for certain parts of the carcass, if the farmer is ready to supply the required volume, we take it.
At the same time, I am looking for new suppliers so as not to be dependent. There is an opinion that there is little good - environmentally friendly - meat in the Leningrad region. This is a question of psychology - something else always seems better, in other areas the air is cleaner and the grass is greener.
There is enough quality meat in Russia; another issue is that farms are not ready to provide a decent level of service. For example, I only need certain parts of carcasses, but farmers offer to take whole carcasses, it’s more convenient for them.
Not all meat is suitable for drying. The moisture content should not be too high, otherwise the meat will dry out more. Grain-fed beef is better suited than beef raised on mixed feed. Pork carbonate must have certain proportions in terms of the thickness of the fat layer and meat. In our latitudes you won’t find pigs fed on acorns, so farmers achieve similar results using domestic raw materials - beets, apples, grain.
Sea salt is brought to us from Finland in 50 kg bags. Cost - 35 rubles. per kg. We use Russian-made spices. These are mainly paprika, dried garlic, ground black pepper, thyme, rosemary and juniper berries.
Factors of influence
A distinctive feature of our business is that the production cycle takes at least 30 days. This is the period required for the meat to mature. During periods of high demand - such as before the New Year - we ask customers to wait. The most loyal customers place an order in advance and receive good bonuses for this.
From experience in the premium segment, I realized that it is impossible to force a client to purchase additional options and make money on it. You cannot announce the price of a product and then say: “This is per kilogram of pork, which we will deliver in two weeks, provided that you pay for the order today.”
We set the maximum price for the product - and the client receives the best conditions. But if he wants it cheaper, then we can delay delivery for two weeks (10% discount), we can ask for an advance payment (another 10% discount), and so on.
I rethought many things in relationships with clients thanks to the advice of such a “whale of business” as Dmitry Kostygin (co-owner of Yulmart, Rive Gauche, Rainbow Smiles and other companies - editor's note). He periodically gives lectures for employees of his companies - we met at one of them. The main thesis is that a loyalty program should not be a one-sided instrument; it is, first of all, an agreement on the terms of cooperation. That is, the client should not receive a discount for simply being a client. It is necessary to agree with the client that he can receive special conditions of purchase only in response to certain actions on his part.
In addition, there is seasonality in our business - in the summer, clients move out of town, and, therefore, we need to negotiate with stores in their area. For example, there is a holiday village, and in it there is a farm produce store. In winter, there is no demand for our meat in this store; it appears with the arrival of the summer season. And vice versa, there is a store in a respectable area with which we cooperate - with the onset of the summer season, demand drops sharply as customers move out of town.
Thoughts about the future
At the very beginning I was inspired by the idea. I didn’t doubt for a second that as soon as I launched the site, trading would immediately begin. In addition to rose-colored glasses, there was incorrect planning: I simply didn’t have enough money for advertising and important little things like packaging design. There wasn’t enough money for the packaging itself either. Printing houses produce individual packaging only in large quantities, and this is expensive.
In the absence of a budget, we advertised only on Facebook - the effect of it remained unclear. We look for clients for B2B personally - we contact shops and restaurants, we offer our products. Alas, we cannot work with the largest clients yet, since we are not able to provide the required volumes of products.
The project needs to be developed, and I see two ways. The first is slow development without attracting third-party capital. The problem with this development is that we cannot start working with the largest wholesalers right now. The second is attracting investment and accelerated development, rapid market development, and access to retail chains. Naturally, the second method is preferable.
I repeat, the main difficulty is the production cycle. We cannot quickly meet growing demand. In order to always have large stocks of finished products, we do not have enough working capital. To reach a turnover capable of satisfying demand, we need investments in the region of 5 million rubles. In general, I am ready to give 40% of the business to potential partners.
...I am very motivated by the books of Isaac Adizes and the series of programs “Gold Rush” on the Discovery Channel. When you see how people work in Alaska, you understand that your problems are not such problems compared to the situation when the wheel of the only tractor fell off, and the nearest populated area is 500 kilometers away.
As for the assortment, this year we are going to expand the product line with traditional prosciutto and bresaola (ripening period is about a year). In addition, we are preparing to release a new type of product - it is still unnamed - salted in a red wine-based marinade. My long-term plans include building my own smokehouse.
I won’t lie, sanctions have made a positive contribution to business development. The exchange rate is also in our favor. Rather, competitors who carry the so-called “sanctions” depend on it. Russian meat is not getting much more expensive. But even if sanctions are lifted tomorrow and oil recovers its fall, our prices will still be much lower than in Europe. We will not diversify our business, but expand it, improving quality.
Hello, dear readers of the blog about life with children!
Wikipedia says thatJamon(Spanish) jamón - ham) - Spanish national delicacy, dry-cured pork ham.
Laconic, isn't it? In fact, this definition will never convey the sensations that you experience when you put a transparent piece of Jamon Ibérico into your mouth. It's truly divine. Especially against the backdrop of our sausages and “delicacies”, which lie in huge quantities on the shelves. So, everything that is in Russia cannot be compared with Hamon.
New information from the store: 
Shop owner: Willem van der Merwe
Contacts: [email protected], there is also a group on FaceBook
Delivery time: It all depends on the work of the Russian Post, sometimes it arrives in 10 days, sometimes 30-35 days.
Prices in the store are 2-3 times lower than in Russia, even taking into account delivery. By the way, delivery is not that expensive. The approximate cost per kilogram is as follows:
Economy| Priority | EMS
from 1 to 5 | 8 eur | 9.2 eur | 11.65 eur
from 5 to 10 | 5 eur | 5.74 eur | 7.1 eur
from 10 to 15| 4.4 eur | 5.1 eur | 6.2 eur
from 15 to 20 | 4.1 eur | 4.8 eur | 5.8 eur
from 20 to 25 | unavailable | 4.6 eur | 5.5 eur
from 25 to 30 | unavailable | 4.2 eur | 5.2 eur
By the way, when sending from Spain abroad, VAT tax is deducted; if you go to the site, you will see two prices, the one without tax will be correct, after registration there will only be one price left, so without tax. For information on how to register and get a discount in the store, see the bottom of the article. Attention!!! Coupon for 5% discount - Nikospart.
UPD. Parcels from Spain with jamon arrive normally even despite the sanctions. Here, for example, is the tracking of my last parcel:
CK051421603ES, see here: http://www.russianpost.ru/tracking20/
But my advice is, it’s better to use EMS delivery, where the likelihood of a package being returned is almost zero!
In the store you can buy:
Jamon.
Jamon is divided into two main types, Iberico jamon and Serrano jamon.
Jamon Serrano is a distinctive feature: a white pig, the jamon has a white hoof.
The most accessible Hamon is this leg (all leg names are clickable):
Jamon Serrano "Duroc" from Teruel.
Aging: 16 – 18 months
Weight: 7 – 7.5 kg
Costs only 63 euros for the whole leg! Moreover, this is not a seven-month-old Curado, this is an excellent aged Jamon. In Russia, prices for such prices start at 9,500 thousand, just google to see this.
You can also get a leg from another manufacturer.
Jamon Serrano Mariano Gomez ‘Añejo’
This Aged Ham is a unique product that is individually produced from the finest raw materials with the addition of very little salt. The entire production process takes place under careful control. Each ham undergoes the necessary aging in special cellars. This is the only way to guarantee the quality of Mariano Gomez Serrano ham.
This careful and slow production process ensures that each leg reaches an optimal level of aging, developing its characteristic flavor and aroma.
Quality guarantee: The entire process of ham production, from the moment the hams arrive at the Mariano Gomez production site until the finished ham is released, is accompanied by a tracking system. In this way, the quality of the product is guaranteed from the beginning to the end of production.
Variety: Ham leg without claw
Aging: 16 - 18 months
Weight: 7.5 - 8 kg
By the way, in order not to buy jamonier, you can take boneless meat, for example this: Price 85 euros.
Jamon Serrano "Reserva from Teruel.
Ham has a characteristic V-shape.
Aging: 14 – 16 months
Weight: 5 - 5.5 kg
Price 63 euros.
Or you can take 500 gram pieces of Jamon for testing. They cost only 8 euros.
For example these:
Jamon Serrano ‘Mature’ (piece) - Mariano Gómez (500 g)
Boneless ham, cut into pieces weighing ± 500 g. Each piece is individually vacuum packed. 
Aging: 18 months
Weight: ±500g
Jamon Serrano is, of course, magnificent, but the most delicious Jamon is, of course, Iberico. Its cost is slightly higher, but the taste sensations are completely different.
Iberico - distinctive feature: black pig, ham has a black hoof
Recebo - made from pigs fed acorn forage
Bellota - made from pigs fed on a pure acorn diet
The cost of Jamon Iberico starts from 120 euros per leg and reaches truly unattainable values (344 euros per leg, not weak, right?), although real gourmets will of course prefer the best.
You can start the tasting with small half-kilogram pieces, unless you want to impress your guests with the most gorgeous view of the leg on the jamonier.
Jamon Iberico Beyota DO Guijuelo (hand cut) - Victor Gomez (100 g)
Jamon Ibérico Beyota DO from Guijuelo (Salamanca) is produced with the traditional slowness that this very tasty meat with a sweet aroma deserves. The ripening of the Iberian jamon Beyota takes place in the cellars of the Sierra de Bejar, where the meat acquires a purplish-red color with thin stripes of fat that melts in the mouth.
Víctor Gómez produces exclusive and limited editions of high-quality Iberian jamon. All products are made according to old family recipes. Following traditions, as well as the use of modern equipment, allows us to achieve the unique taste and aroma characteristic of Iberian chamaon from Víctor Gómez.
Aging: +30 months
Price: 13.4 euros
If finances allow, then you can immediately take a set of slices to treat friends or for future use;) for example, this one:
Natural Ibérico Beyota jamon (whole, hand-cut) - 5 Jotas
Hand-cut leg of ham 5J ("Cinco Jotas") in an exclusive "5J" case. The perfect gift!
A set of packages of natural Iberico Beyota jamon
5 Jotas hand cut: 
26 x 80 g packages of hand-cut jamon
1 bag of small jamon cubes
1 bag of jamon bones
Description brochure
Natural Iberico Beyota jamon “5 Jotas” is distinguished by its incomparable taste and rich bouquet of aromas with a trail and uniform color of meat with many shiny streaks of fat.
Unlike other online stores that purchase 5 Jotas ham from distributors, JamonShop.com purchases all 5 Jotas ham directly from the manufacturer (Sanchez Romero Carvajal, the Osborne Group). This allows us to set competitive prices and, more importantly, guarantee the freshness and quality of the products.
Slices are slices, but there is nothing better than a real leg of Jamon Iberico, the leg is a real art and philosophy of cooking!
And I suggest starting your acquaintance with Hamon with an excellent eight-kilogram leg from Victor Gomez.
Jamon Ibérico Sebo DO Guijuelo - Victor Gomez (8 – 8.5 kg)
Aging: +24 months
Weight 8-8.5 kilograms.
Cost 132 euros.
But now the main question is where in Moscow and Russia you can find real Spanish Jamon Iberico for 5800 rubles??? The answer is of course obvious! We must take it in Spain!
By the way, it is very important that if you buy a whole leg, be sure to buy a Hamonier stand, the Hamonier makes slicing very much easier, even moreover, without it you simply will not be able to cut the Ham correctly.
Here is the simplest and most functional jamonier:
Stand for jamon/jamonera “Huelva” (walnut color)
The stand for jamon/hamonera “Huelva” (Buarfe) is made of Chilean pine (walnut color) with black steel handles treated with epoxy resin and chrome-plated steel skewers.
It costs only 17.8 euros.
Registration and making a purchase in the Jamonshop store
To change the language, just select in the upper right menu the one in which it is easiest for you to perceive information, for example, Russian.
After we have added everything we liked to the cart, we go into the cart in order to be surprised at the resulting number. 
We click on order confirmation, we are redirected to the PayPal website for payment, after payment we wait with peace of mind for our order to be sent. It usually takes a couple of days to prepare the parcel. Well, then all that remains is to track the path of the parcel from Spain to Russia. By the way, it is better not to send more than three legs in one parcel and do not forget about the monthly customs limits of 1000 euros and 31 kg.
About how to cut Hamon correctly!
This is the way to cut Hamon:
And this is the method for cutting Palettes:
The embargo on the import of European products has been extended for a second and perhaps not the last year. Reedus decided to find out which domestic producers could take over the market for their favorite delicacies.
Jamon
Jamon is a Spanish meat delicacy, known far beyond the borders of this country. It is a dry-cured pork ham, which, after salting, is aged for a long time in special conditions.
The history of ham goes back more than two thousand years. The Cantabrian peoples salted pork and hung it from the ceiling in cellars. There the hams “ripened” throughout the winter and acquired a unique taste and aroma. Dried pork was perfectly stored, it could be transported over long distances and used as food for sailors. The fame of jamon quickly spread throughout the country, and then to Europe. In the 18th century, jamon was already sold through Spanish colonies on all continents.
In modern Spain, jamon is produced throughout the country, except for the coast. This product has a special seal of approval which certifies that it is manufactured in a specific province to consistent local standards. In almost any Spanish restaurant you can see impressive pork butts hanging from the ceiling, and jamon is also often found in local shops.
Similar meat delicacies are produced in other countries. For example, in Italy, dry-cured pork ham is called prosciutto. The products have similar production technology, but the jamon is usually aged longer.
What is called jamon in Spain was also produced in pre-revolutionary Russia. Moreover, dry-cured meat was even exported, for example, to the UK.
Today in Russia such a product is practically not produced. At least on any serious scale, allowing it to be supplied to stores or even simply sold. However, in one of the capital's establishments this summer they offered to try their own jamon.
"Friends! Today we officially open our new “Bread” on Tverskaya 12/str.2. Today I will work as a bartender: as a gift, I will pour a glass of “Villa Antinori” for each guest and cut seven-month-aged jamon (we made it ourselves, by the way),” wrote writer and businessman Sergei Minaev, who owns the “Bread and Wine” chain of wine shops and bars, on his Instagram. .
In a comment to Reedus, Sergei Minaev admitted that in fact the presented product is neither jamon nor its Russian analogue.
“It was beef jerky that had been aged for 8 months. In terms of taste, of course, the difference from jamon is very significant. The result is such an improved balyk,” said the businessman.
The jerky was prepared by the establishment's staff and then served to the guests. The action was one-time in nature, but in the future it is planned to put the production of delicacies on stream.
“In practice, this can and should be done in Russia. Both pigs and cows are available. Today we are negotiating with farms in the Moscow region to start growing chicken for our restaurants and drying meat,” Minaev said.
According to him, with guaranteed sales they will be able to maintain quality and price. “We hope to bring such a project to fruition and launch it within a year,” the businessman added.
As Reedus learned, larger-scale production of Russian jamon is planned to be launched in the Krasnodar Territory. This will be handled by the domestic company Nikolaev and Sons, which has managed to make a name for itself in the production of wines, as well as French cheeses under the Lefkadia brand.
“Now I act as a consultant for them on creating authentic meat products. A specialist from the Basque Country will help prepare the project for the start,” Andrey Kuspits, development director of the gastronomic company LeBonGout, told Reedus.
He admits that the process of organizing a production workshop will be long. To date, only a paper draft has been prepared and financial issues are being discussed.
Cheeses
With the production of dairy delicacies, the situation looks best: at the moment in Russia, cheeses of French and Italian varieties are produced by at least two enterprises that can be called relatively large.
The already mentioned company “Nikolaev and Sons” in the Krasnodar Territory produces Camembert and Bouche, and from October it is going to produce Brie.
“In our production technology we adhere to traditional methods and recipes. All processes related to molding, whey drainage, inoculation, turning are carried out manually by cheese factory employees. Also a particularly important stage is the maintenance work during the ripening process of cheeses, which is again carried out manually. And, of course, for 3 years we have been advised on technological processes by a French consultant,” the company’s press service assured Reedus.
Today the company strives to reach the level of processing four tons of milk per day. Cheesemakers admit that they are limited in the accelerated growth process due to the technological features of production. However, cheeses under the Lefkadia brand can already be seen on the shelves of a number of Russian retail chains.
“The products are also in demand in the HoReCa segment in many regions of the country. For example, in Moscow we are represented in the restaurant chains Jean Jacques, Goodman, Filimonova and Yankel and many others,” the press service added.
What is stopping the Russian manufacturer?
90% of Russian citizens did not even notice the embargo on European delicacies: they had neither the desire nor the opportunity to buy these dishes even without sanctions. At least this applies to jamon and foie gras. Nevertheless, premium products have found their regular buyer among people with high and middle incomes.
With the introduction of the embargo, Russian cheese makers began to report a sharp increase in demand for their products. Moreover, Europe quickly took stock of the situation and began supplying traditional cheeses to the Russian Federation under the guise of lactose-free products. The gap was eliminated only in the second year of sanctions: now suppliers must receive a specialized state certificate, according to which they can import only lactose-free products for dietary, therapeutic and preventive nutrition to the Russian market. This should prevent traditional low-lactose cheeses from reaching the shelves and spur demand for Russian dairy products. However, whether domestic producers will be able to meet the increased needs is a separate question.
Another problem in filling Russian markets with local producers is pricing policy. Small farms simply cannot sell cheese for pennies: for example, for a kilogram of cheese made in Maslovka you will have to pay about 2.5 thousand rubles.
The situation is similar with Lefkadia cheeses: larger European producers are able to offer a similar product at a much more attractive price. And their products are still available on the market, despite the formal elimination of the lactose-free hole.
So in the Okay supermarket, 270 grams of Camembert from Lefkadia will cost 629 rubles. At the same time, a similar product from the Danish food giant ArlaFoods, sold in the same store, costs almost half as much (about 350 rubles for the same 270 grams).
Even if we imagine that all the “sanctions” will disappear from online trading platforms and the shelves of Russian stores, not all gourmets will be able to afford expensive Russian analogues.
To summarize what has been said, we must admit: attempts to produce European delicacies in Russia are being carried out. Some of them can be called successful, the results of others can only be judged in the future.
In any case, the first year of the embargo did not bring the expected super-benefits to real and potential producers of delicacies: cheese making was hampered by lactose-free products, meat producers were hampered by long shelf life of foie gras and jamon, brought to Russia before the sanctions, and the absence of a ban on trade in “sanctions” left opportunities for smuggling goods.
If the sanctions wars continue for several more years, and smuggling is completely stopped, then domestic producers will have a real chance of success. With an increase in production, the turnover of products of Russian companies will also increase, which will reduce prices.
In the meantime, unfortunately, compatriots are offering Russians European quality for a very unattractive price. At the same time, authentic European-made goods can always be ordered in an online store: attempts by the Prosecutor General’s Office to block such resources currently appear ineffective.
I offer a selection of the best Russian products made to replace forbidden delicacies. How do you feel about Russian analogues of Western products prohibited by sanctions?
The idea for this post came to me yesterday. Brought me into the community pora_valit , where I had a small conversation with a friend mefed47 . He told me that oyster production, which had been considered lost forever for decades, had been re-established in Crimea. Oysters are fastidious creatures; they are very sensitive to their environment and love only clean and calm water.
And so, it turns out that very little was required to revive the oyster farm: stop dumping all sorts of rubbish into the Black Sea. I don’t think that the improvement in the environment is connected with the change in the status of Crimea. Most likely, the fact is that production has ceased to care about the environment and somehow comply with environmental standards. For example, I wrote a post about Tuapse, where only after the introduction of new hydrotreatment systems as part of modernization, the enterprises stopped polluting the sea. Can you imagine what it looked like 20 years ago? The consequences are still being eliminated by the new management, and only by 2014 the work is approaching the final stage.
There are also many production projects in Crimea and, apparently, things didn’t work out with oysters before because the shellfish were mercilessly filled with chemical waste.
Now, an oyster farm has existed in the Crimean village of Katsiveli since 2005. It is located underwater on an area of five hectares, three hundred meters from the shore. Only “beacon buoys” are visible on the surface. The harvest is harvested at a depth of five meters by scuba divers. This is half a million oysters and about 60-80 tons of mussels per year. Quite good results for just one farm, it will be even better in the future.
The loss of jamon caused a lot of resonance in society. I don’t know about anyone, but speaking for myself personally, I wouldn’t say that I ate it often, but that’s not the point. In Krasnodar there is a real “meat king” Takhir Kholikberdiev, who has always emphasized his love specifically for Kuban meat. The restaurateur made the delicacy at home in just 8 months and is now selling it.
But if you think about it, then To prepare jamon in Spanish you need just:
pork ham - 4-5 kg;
sea salt - 3-5 times the weight of the ham;
Well, hands from the shoulders, of course.
More than the disappearance of jamon, people were made to suffer by the news about foreign cheese. Here I can understand everyone’s indignation: all Russian cheese tastes about the same and is only suitable for melting it into meat, French style, when visiting your grandmother. If you want an exquisite, subtle taste, then the choice from a Russian manufacturer tends to zero.
And they made blue cheese, including in the Kuban somewhere in the 30s of the 20th century. There are also more modern examples; the Kuban company “Kaloriya” three years ago began developing technology for making blue cheese like “Brie” and “Camembert”. But no matter how regional achievements were praised, the taste of the cheese was far from ideal.
But the monks of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery (area of Lake Ladoga) will produce cheeses of brands that are subject to anti-sanctions. And I have the best expectations about this cheese: the monks took cheese-making courses in Italy and purchased equipment there. For example, Father Agapius, who runs the monastery farm, learned to make five types of cheese: mozzarella, caciotta, morlacco, smoked ricotta and white mold bianca cheese.
What examples of cooking forbidden delicacies in our country do you know?
The image of each country carries a certain set of stereotypes by which others unmistakably recognize it. Bear Vodka Balalaika. Beer - sausages - cabbage. Bullfighting - football - jamon.
Today we have Jamon, Spain.
It is believed that the production of jamon on the Iberian Peninsula was born in the shaggy centuries, as the only way to preserve pork in a hot climate in the absence of refrigerators, and also taking into account the many months of sea travel, once the mistress of the seas.
Considering the mountainous climate of certain regions of Spain, where winter temperatures and natural humidity coincide with those required for salting, drying and drying pork, God himself ordered the production of this delicious, compact product, rich in all the necessary vitamins and minerals.
We managed to arrange a visit to a factory that produces jamon and sausages in the La Rioja region in the town of Baños de Río Tobía.
The Martínez Somalo factory has been around since 1900 and continues to be a family business, now in its fourth generation.
In general, it’s interesting that in a small town with a population of about 2000 people, there are 5 large sausage and jamon production facilities, which is explained by the ideal location in a valley between two mountains, where the climate is ideal for aging these delicious products.
Here is the list produced by Martinez Somalo:
CHORIZO SARTA EXTRA
CHORIZO SARTA 100% NATURAL DULCE Y PICANTE
LA GLORIA RIOJANA
CHORIZO SARTA IGP RIOJANO
CHORIZO EXTRA GRAN VELA
CHORIZO BARBACOA DULCE Y PICANTE
CHORIZO SEMICULAR 100% NATURAL
SALCHICHÓN SARTA
SALCHICHÓN SEMICULAR
LOMO EMBUCHADO EXTRA DUROC
JAMON SERRANO
JAMON PIMENTONADO
CHORIZO SARTA IGP RIOJANO
CHORIZO CON VINO 110
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, we were not allowed to photograph the process of cutting up carcasses and working with raw materials, but they showed us everything and answered all our questions.
The factory is located in an old 6-story building, where production is located on the lower floors, and the upper ones are equipped with modern chambers for salting and drying. Also outside the city, another complex was built for the final aging of jamon and shipment of products.
Sausages
Traditionally in Spain, the main spice added to sausages is red pepper of various varieties. According to the technologist, pepper is an excellent natural preservative and antioxidant, which creates the authenticity of the recipe.
Of course, being an experienced home sausage maker, I did not fail to squint and ask about the use of nitrites, flavor enhancers and other chemicals. Moreover, this is easy to check: according to EU laws, all additives must be indicated on the packaging.
The technologist happily revealed all the recipes, which boiled down to the basics:
Meat, red pepper (various), garlic, salt. There is a variety of sausage with the addition of 9% red wine.
To salt jamon, the prescribed amount of sodium nitrite is used.
After stuffing, the sausages are placed in a chamber where they dry at temperatures from +3 to +17 and humidity from 80 to 63%, reducing the humidity and raising the temperature as they dry. With a loss of 28-35% of weight, the sausage is ready and goes to the consumer.
Jamon
Of course, now everything in the factory is automated. It's fun to watch how huge pig legs travel along a conveyor belt, fall into a drum, where they are rolled in nitrite salt, each is weighed, labeled and placed in a box for a hundred legs, sprinkling each row with a large amount of salt, after which the boxes are taken to a chamber where, at + 2C feet will be salted according to the classic formula of 1 kg - 1 day.
Then the salt is washed off the feet and sent to a chamber to level the salt and dry at +4 +11C for 5-6 months. This is followed by ripening and fermentation of meat +14 +20C for 6 - 12 months.
