Fungal invader bites Spanish ham

Spain's ham producers are eyeing with alarm the spread of a fungus which is threatening the food supply essential to the production of the country's famous leg of pig. The culprit is Phytophthora1, which attacks the roots of the evergreen encina, (Holm Oak, Quercus ilex)2, whose acorns provide the diet for the indigenous black …

[Chris 2]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

This is a proper disaster. My lunch! <cries>

[Jad]

For a second ...

I actually thought you were the first to bring a news article to the world, then i realised that it isn't IT related at all ...

Strangely enough though, it's quite relevant to my business so cheers for that :)

[Disco-Legend-Zeke]

So, why not...

export larger trees from "infested" UK fields to give the Spanish a leg up on reestablishing native groves.

Although this might not preserve the pig at present levels in the near term, it would speed the recovery of this industry. Hopefully their agrigulture boffins are working on finding resistant rootstocks for grafting, etc.

This is pretty urgent, the obscenely wealthy are faced with starvation.

[Anonymous Coward]

I suppose the IT angle

is ham is often used on Pizzas

[disgruntled yank]

yours for the taking

It is another bumper year s for acorns in the Potomac valley. I dare say any Spanish farmer who cares to fly into Dulles with a rake could pack home his fill of emergency supplies. That said, I don't know how our acorns compare to theirs--perhaps the Iberian gourmands would experience a sudden craving for sweet-potato pie.

[Pyros]

Has anyone tried other oak varieties?

We could do an interesting taste study based on hammys who were fed acorns from other particular species, such as live oak or what not.

Hey, we've got an abundance of live oaks in Florida, they're not really useful for anything but half-way decent firewood...

[h 6]

Dirt.

It's the soil, not necessarily the kind of oak. The same oaks grown in the US or UK would have acorns that taste quite differently. That's why South Carolina has the best peaches, Cuba the best cigars -- its the soil.

[Pelapollos]

i-Jam

For a link between ham and technology, have a look at the funny guided tour in

http://ijam.es/

By the way, the guy in the video talks with a foreigner (mostly British) accent, that is part of the fun given the subject.

Juan.

[asiaseen]

@ Dirt

Cuba the best cigars -- its the soil. Funny, I always thought it was the maidens' thighs.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just a moment!

Let's get this straight. The Spanish oaks are dying; our oaks are thriving and are in fact a pest. Jambon sells at E1500 per leg. Am I the only one that can see a looming business opportunity? It is not as if our farmers do not know anything about pigs.