French actor Gerard Depardieu will be the special guest star at this weekend's Prosciutto di Parma Festival, organizers said on Wednesday
Depardieu, a recognised gourmet and connoisseur, has never hidden his soft spot for Parma prosciutto and has included it in the cookbook he recently penned.
The actor also owns a restaurant and produces his own olive oil and wine.
This year's prosciutto festival will be staged in 12 towns in Italy's so-called 'food valley', where Parma is the recognised heart.
Depardieu will make his appearance in the town of Langhirano where on Sunday he will head the 'Prosciutto Oscar' jury.
This will involve a 'Palate Test' in which the jurists will taste the best hams produced in the area, all from different years.
The French actor fell in love with Parma prosciutto in the 1970s when he was on location in the area shooting Bernardo Bertolucci's film Novecento (1900).
The director, a Parma native, gave the French actor an extensive food and wine tour of the area when not on the set.
In a recent television appearance in Italy, Depardieu said "when I come to the Langhirano hills and see all those hams just hanging, I get this incredible sense of mental well-being".
The 10th edition of the festival kicks off on Friday in Langhirano and participants will be able to ride free buses to the various ham-making plants in the area to learn how prosciutto is made and enjoy bountiful samples.
They will also be able to taste Parma prosciutto together with other local specialities including Parmiggiano Reggiano, Colli di Parma wine and black truffles from Fragno.
Langhirano hosts a Prosciutto Museum dedicated to the tradition of making prosciutto which has been handed down for many generations.
According to the local ham-makers, the secret to Prosciutto di Parma's excellence begins with a careful selection of prime-grade raw material: the hog.
The meat is then be treated and seasoned using traditional methods carried out in a strictly delimited area of production within the province of Parma.
The ham is aged for at least 10-12 months and only one ingredient can be used in the treatment of the meat: salt.
This guarantees Prosciutto di Parma is an absolutely natural product and allows it to be delicious, easily digestible and nutritional at the same time.
The producers of the 'real' ham are all members of the Prosciutto di Parma consortium, which began in 1963 with 23 partners who produced 53,000 hams with their now famous ducal crown trademark.
Today, the consortium counts 200 associated members who produce nine million aged hams for a turnover of some 1.5 billion euros annually.
Italy's food valley boasts more than 1,300 companies working in production, processing and packaging of food products with an annual turnover of some eight billion euros.
