Food and drink

Njeguši Prosciutto: Why One Village Makes It Better

Njeguši is a village of a few hundred people on the road between Kotor and Cetinje, and its ham is the one food every Montenegrin will tell you to eat.

Updated · 2 min read

Why here

The village sits at about 800 metres in a shallow basin on the Lovćen massif, roughly a dozen kilometres from the sea as the crow flies but a vertical kilometre above it. Warm, salty air comes up off the bay during the day; cold dry air comes down off the mountain at night. The two meet exactly here.

That daily exchange is what cures the meat. Move the same pig, the same salt and the same method fifty kilometres in any direction and you get a different ham. It is the same argument as terroir in wine, and it is the reason the name is worth something.

How it is made

  • The leg is dry-salted, not brined, and pressed for several weeks.
  • It is then cold-smoked over beech, which Italian prosciutto is not. This is the difference you taste first.
  • After the smoke it hangs in open airflow for anywhere from eight months to two years.
  • Nothing is added. No nitrates in the traditional method, no sugar, no wine.

The smoke is the signature. Njeguški pršut is darker, drier and more assertive than Parma, and it is closer to a Spanish serrano crossed with something from a chimney. Served in thin slices with the local cheese, olives and a glass of Vranac.

The cheese as well

Njeguški sir is the other half of the plate — a cow's milk cheese matured in olive oil, which keeps it soft and gives it a slightly sour, oily richness. It is sold in jars, travels badly in hand luggage and well in a checked bag.

Where to buy it

In the village itself, from the smokehouses along the main road. Several have a room where you can eat a plate on the spot with bread and wine, which is what most people driving the Lovćen road stop for.

Rough price
Plate of pršut, cheese and olives for two, in the villageExpect roughly €10 – €20 — check on the day
Whole leg, vacuum packedPriced by weight and age; ask before buying
Per kilogram, slicedA premium over supermarket ham, reflecting the curing time
Same thing in a coastal supermarketUsually pricier, and not always genuinely from Njeguši

Getting there

Njeguši sits on the old road from Kotor to Cetinje, above the twenty-five hairpins of the serpentine. From Kotor it is about 40 minutes of slow climbing; from Cetinje about 20 minutes on a normal road. It combines naturally with Lovćen and the Njegoš mausoleum, and it is the obvious lunch stop on that day.

The village is also where the Petrović dynasty came from, which is why a place this small has a royal birth house you can visit.

Book locally

Run by a licensed operator in Žabljak. Send a request, pay the operator on the day.

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