Culatello, Culaccia and Culatta: what's the difference?

Culatello, Culaccia, Culatta, Granculattina… These cured meats from Bassa Parmense, all of high quality, seem to confuse many consumers: many think they are the same thing. It is not the first time we have received messages asking about the difference, and so today we have decided to explain it to you.

The Culatello is DOP and is the one from Zibello. It represents the top, the elite of the elite of Italian norcineria. We can even tell when we go to get a simple hectogram to delight our tables: it costs! But for good reason!

Characteristics of Culatello

Culatello is completely boned and enclosed in a pig's bladder. This undergoes a binding and its wedge-shaped form is decidedly typical and unique. During the aging process, Culatello loses a significant amount of weight, and we can see it as the string begins to become soft and detached from the shape. The aging period is a minimum of 10 months, but normally the best aging starts around 12 – 14.

And after Culatello...

Then we come across many other products that, however, have significantly lower prices. And here many names pop up, such as the already mentioned culaccia, granculattina, culatta, etc. All products that, no matter how high quality they are, can never aspire to the Culatello.

There are some extraordinary products among these, and Spaghetti & Mandolino presents more than one artisanal production from the Parmense hills. Here the piece is the increasingly wider part of the thigh of the heavy pig, but the skin is kept on one side (the longer one) and the shorter side is covered with lard. In this way, the product does not need to be enclosed in a bladder or tied. These products have the characteristic of losing less weight during aging.

Marco Del Sante, one of our producers, from a historic family in Neviano degli Arduini, among the most prestigious hills for the production of typical Parma cured meats, reveals that the culaccia, or culatta is easier to slice, even at 12 months it remains soft and creamy inside and has almost no waste. While maintaining the quality of the meat, therefore, with a culaccia it is simpler to preserve than with a Culatello from Zibello DOP, which instead requires a lot of care. Furthermore, the cost of the two cured meats is unapproachable, and this is the only guarantee to understand that Culatello from Zibello DOP is surely the king of kings.

But try the culatta: it may not be the queen, but it is surely the princess!