Pan de Jamón

Pan de jamón (ham bread) is a typical Venezuelan Christmas bread, filled with ham, raisins and green olives. Many variations have been created, some filling the bread with other ingredients like turkey or cream cheese and others using puff pastry as the dough. Pan de jamón appeared in the beginning of the 20th century and slowly became a tradition in the Christmas season in Venezuela and Madeira.

Every bakery starts selling this bread already in early November, but you can enjoy it any time of the year. The Pan de jamón is the best accompaniment to the seond typical Venezuelan Christmas dish Hallacas, the Venezuelan version of tamales.