A little over a month ago, I strolled into my local Costco to check a hammy box off of my culinary bucket list: I bought the Noel Consorcio Jamon Serrano Bone-In Ham Leg, a 14-pound cured hunk of ...

Iberian ham, or jamón Ibérico, is one of the most expensive meats in the world. A leg of it can cost as much as $4,500. But what is it about this cured meat that makes it cost so much?