A whole jamón leg is considerably cheaper by weight than its sliced counterpart because it includes the bone and non-edible fat.

Once the external fat layers are removed and the meat is exposed, the product must be consumed as soon as possible since a progressive drying and deteriorating process starts.

[6] Home users will typically choose sliced product, be it freshly cut from a deli stand, commercially pre-packaged or vacuum preserved.

Though widely available in Spain (even if on the expensive side) and accessible in some countries of the European Union, import duties and trade or food safety restrictions applied to foreign meat products[9] in international markets may raise prices substantially while creating scarcity, often making jamón a prohibitively expensive product for other countries to import.

[citation needed] Jamón serrano has traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG) status in the EU and the UK.

[14] Fresh hams are trimmed and cleaned, then stacked and covered with salt for about two weeks to draw off excess moisture and preserve the meat from spoiling.

Ibérico encompasses some of the most expensive ham produced in the world,[16][17] and its fatty marbled texture has made it very popular as a delicacy, with a hard-to-fulfill global demand[18] comparable to that of kobe beef.

[citation needed] Since jamón ibérico production and export is limited, buyer should beware and not fall victim of bait-and-switch or quality fraud similar to that of olive oil, since it has been estimated that a sizable portion of both local market and exports are not actually ibérico.