Everyone has tasted the scrumptious dry salamis on an antipasto platter. The meat is served very thinly sliced and is often relished with a cool beer or appetizing glass of wine. Notwithstanding, there are other types of cured meat and many people have no idea exactly which one and whether they are the same or not. The same applies to Capicola and Prosciutto. These are perhaps two of the favorites and widely used types of cured dry salamis. A lot of people cannot judge if they are the same or not, where they come from or how are they different.

What Is Capicola?

It’s is a customary Italian Cold Cut, Dry-Cured meat specialty. It is a whole muscle salume, dry-cured precisely and thinly sliced. This cut is famously called Capocollo or Coppa in various areas of Italy and Corsica. The name is a combination of the words ‘Capo’ meaning head and ‘Collo’, meaning neck, which is associated with this cut location. In the countries outside of Italy and Corsica, other names associated with this cut include gondola or gondola curate in Argentina and Capicolla in the present United States. It’s located in the muscle running from the neck to the fourth or fifth rib of the pork shoulder or neck.

What Is Prosciutto?

It also is Italian Dry-Cured meat, normally served uncooked and thinly sliced. This serving style is known as Prosciutto Crudo and is different from the full cooked ham, known as Prosciutto Cotto. It is all a fatty cut of meat. Sliced thinly it acquires a buttery texture and tends to melt in your mouth. Prosciutto is located on the hind leg or thigh of a pig.

How Are They Different?

Although many people think that any variety of dry-cured meat is named ‘prosciutto’, including Capicola the truth is that they are vastly different in subtle ways.

  • Although these two are thinly sliced and served, Capicola is served in smaller proportions, and owing to its size, it is suitable for a quick snack. Prosciutto slices are more than enough for a single bite, which means you may have to tear up the slice in two pieces to make single-serving bites.
  • Moreover, since prosciutto is normally prepared from the pig’s whole bone-in ham, it is larger in size than the capicola, which is prepared from a muscle running through the pig’s neck.

Sum Up

Capicola can be prepared in almost two months while Prosciutto can take a minimum of 9 to a maximum of 24 months to get ready.