Jabugo
Andalusia (Sierra de Aracena, Huelva)
The tiny Andalusian mountain village whose name became synonymous with the top tier of jamón Ibérico. Cinco Jotas's home base.
Jabugo is a mountain village of about 2,400 people in the Sierra de Aracena national park, in Huelva province at the western edge of Andalusia. The village's name has become globally famous as the synonym for the highest tier of Spanish Iberico ham — the Jabugo DOP (renamed from DOP Huelva in 2018 to emphasize the village specifically). The village itself is remote and small — 90 minutes by car from Seville, 2 hours from the Lisbon Atlantic — with maybe 12-15 producer-operators operating within the DOP zone.
Cinco Jotas (the historical Sánchez Romero Carvajal house, founded 1879) is the dominant producer and operates the visitor-facing Bodega de los Jamones in the village center where serious tasting flights and production tours are available. Beyond the producers themselves, Jabugo is the gateway to the broader Sierra de Aracena — the dehesa landscape where the pure-breed Iberico pigs graze, visible in person from the village's surrounding hills. The annual Iberico ham festival (June, 'Día del Jamón') is the regional cured-meat event.
Notable shops & producers
- Cinco Jotas Bodega de los Jamones (village center)
- Sánchez Romero Carvajal cellars
- Various smaller DOP producers (Beher, others)
- Mesón Sierra Mayor (village restaurant)
Typical dishes to seek out
- Jamón Ibérico de Bellota tasting flight (60-, 36-, 24-month aged)
- Iberian pork presa (grilled fresh cut)
- Salmorejo cordobés (Andalusian cold tomato soup) with Iberico