Prosciutto
Food · Protein · Food, Typed Supps
The leanest thing on this counter and the saltiest — 1,700 mg per 100 g.
Stage by stage
- Salt-cured (Taste): Salt and time are the whole method — one to three years of it.
- Concentrated protein (Stomach): 30.8 g per 100 g, because most of the water has gone.
- Sodium (Circulation): 1,700 mg per 100 g — around 510 mg in a 30 g serve.
- Thiamin (Nervous system): 0.88 mg per 100 g, close to a full day’s requirement.
Timing
Nothing to time. In pregnancy, heated until steaming is the condition, exactly as for salami.
Time to effect
- Per 30 g: Around 510 mg of sodium — a quarter of the daily target.
- 2–4 weeks: Blood pressure response to a change in sodium intake.
Allergens
None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Keto, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.
Satiety
126 on the satiety index, where white bread is 100 — moderate. Modelled from the Holt et al. (1995) measurements.
Environmental footprint
12.3 kg CO2e and 1796 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Pig meat" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Mid — roughly £9 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 293
- Protein: 30.8g
- Carbohydrate: 0.3g
- of which sugars: 0.3g
- Fat: 18.8g
- of which saturated: 6.7g
- Sodium: 1700mg
Food vs. supplement
Prosciutto is the test case for whether "no nitrites" means anything. It genuinely has none added — and it is still Group 1, because the classification covers salting and curing as well. The claim is true and does less than it is used to imply.
Kitchen tip
Take it out of the fridge twenty minutes before serving. Cold prosciutto tastes mostly of salt; warm, the fat softens and everything else comes through.
Common myth
“It’s nitrite-free, so it’s the healthy cured meat.” In reality: Traditional prosciutto really is just pork and salt, and that does narrow one of the proposed mechanisms. But IARC Group 1 covers meat preserved by salting and curing as well as by nitrite, so the classification stands. And it is the saltiest thing on the counter at 1,700 mg per 100 g — the preservation had to come from somewhere.
Recipes that use it
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