Culatello is the most prized of Italy's dry-cured pork charcuterie — the lean, central muscle of the pig's hind leg, boned out, tied into a teardrop "pear" shape and aged in the damp fog of the Bassa Parmense, the low plain along the Po near Zibello. Where prosciutto cures the whole leg, culatello uses only the choicest cushion of rump, yielding rosy, marbled, almost translucent slices that eat sweet, delicate and silky with a clean, lingering savour. Protected as Culatello di Zibello DOP, it is regarded by many Italians as the king of salumi.