[PHOTO] Guinness World Record Pršut Presented in Istria

Guinness World Record Pršut (photo credit: Dusko Marusic/Pixsell)

A Guinness record pršut has gone on display at the International Pršut Festival in Istria today…

The Guinness record for the biggest pršut, which is a preserved smoked dry-cured ham made from a pig’s leg with the bone, skin and fat, comes from the famous pršut-producing inland Dalmatian town of Drniš and weighs 22.5 kg. The record pršut, which is over one metre long, had to be carried in by two men to the festival as it was placed on a special custom-made holder.

“The pig was bred for three years and then we carefully cultivated and dried it for another three years for it grow into this monstrosity for the Guinness Book of Records. It was hard, but we managed it”, Ante Reljanović told daily 24sata about the record pršut.

Record pršut presented at International Pršut festival in Istria (photo credit: International Pršut Festival)

The pig which the record pršut came from weighed 450 kg.

“This is a success for us. Normally an ordinary pršut will wiegh 7-8 kgs. This is definitely our toughest and biggest, but the taste is outstanding. The same process in making a smaller pršut was used for this one”, he added.

Reljanović says that pigs which are fed on corn, barley and clover and have large open spaces to roam in. The record pršut was dried in Pakovo Selo and looked after along the Krka river canyon, where the mild Mediterranean currents mixed with the sharp continental climate produce a quality environment.

The record pršut needed a custom-made holder (photo credit: Dusko Marusic/Pixsell)

“Our pršuts are known for not liking the sun, but dark and damp places. The ideal humidity is 75%. We smoke the ham on hornbeam wood, which has a minimum of tannin in it, but the biggest and best pršut was helped by frequent changes in the southerly and northerly winds. A notary public was present at the official weigh-in”, Ante concluded.