Carmarthen butcher celebrates award of protected status for ham
A recipe handed down by generations of a Carmarthen butcher’s family has been awarded protected status. Carmarthen Indoor Market’s Albert Rees Butchers was given the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) for its Carmarthen ham recently by the European Union. PGI is one of three European designations created to protect regional foods that have a specific quality, reputation or other characteristics attributable to that area. It acts like a Trade Mark and stops manufacturers from outside a region copying a regional product and selling it as that regional product. Albert Rees was set up in 1962 by Albert and Brenda Rees. In 1989 Chris and Ann Rees took over the business on the retirement of Chris's parents in Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock Market whilst his brother Jonathan and his family trade in Fishguard and Brecon. Their family recipe for making the ham, which tastes similar to Parma ham, is a closely guarded secret but the basic process involves salt curing and air dr...