Speck is the dry-cured, lightly cold-smoked ham of the Alps — above all of South Tyrol (Alto Adige) in northern Italy and the neighbouring Tyrol of Austria. Made from the boned hind leg of the pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), it is rubbed with salt, juniper, pepper, garlic and other spices, smoked gently over beechwood and then matured for months in cool mountain air. Sliced thin, it is deep rose-red with a clean rim of white fat, eating salty-savoury and nutty with an unmistakable resinous whisper of juniper and a faint, sweet smokiness.