Ham is the thigh and rump q p of pork, cut from the haunch of a pig or boar. Although it may be cooked and served fresh, most ham iW s cured in some fashion. Cuts referred to as ham in the U.S. are called gammon in the U.K. and Ireland.

Types

Ham can be dry-cured or wet-cured.

Dry

A dry-cured ham has been rubbed in a mixture containing salt and a variety of other ingredients (most usually some proportion of sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite). This is followed by a varying period of drying and aging. Dry-cured hams may require a period of re-hydration prior to consumption. Some ham curing methods begin with the ham being wet but are followed by dry aging.

Dry-cured varieties include Italian prosciutto crudo [pro.?'?ut:to 'kru:do] (prosciutto di Parma, prosciutto di San Daniele, prosciutto di Carpegna, prosciutto di Modena, prosciutto Toscano, prosciutto Veneto Berico-Euganeo, Valle d’Aosta Jambon de Bosses, prosciutto di Norcia) and the Spanish Jamon serrano and jamón ibérico. The United States has country ham (including Virginia ham), which might or might not be smoked. England has the York ham. Germany's Westphalian ham is usually smoked over juniper, in Belgium there is the smoked Ardennes ham, and from China there is the unsmoked Jinhua ham. In Bulgaria the specific Elenski but is produced.

Wet

A wet-cured ham has been cured with a brine, either by immersion or injection. The curing solution typically contains salt, sodium nitrate, smoke flavoring as well as other additives. Wet cured hams typically are sold packaged with their curing brine.

Wet cured ham is often commonly sold in tins or 'cans' for preservation. Ham is also processed into other meat products such as Spam luncheon meat.

 

The United States largely inherited its traditions relating to ham and pork from 17th century U.K. and 18th century France, the latter especially in what is now present day New Orleans: the French often used wet cure processed hams that are the foundation stock of a lot of modern dishes, like certain gumbos and sandwiches. Up until the very early twentieth century men living in the Southern Appalachians would drive their pigs to market in the flatlands below each autumn, fattening up their stock on chestnuts and fallen mast, much like their Scottish forebearers did for centuries. Further, archaeological evidence suggests that the early settlers of Jamestown (men largely from the West Midlands) built swine pens for the pigs they brought with them and, once established, also carried on an ancient British tradition of slaughtering their pigs and producing their pork in mid November. To this day the result is that in many portions of the Southeast a large ham, not a turkey, is the centerpiece of a family Christmas dinner.

In the United States, ham is regulated primarily on the basis of its cure and water content. The USDA recognizes the following categories:

Fresh ham is an uncured hind leg of pork. Country Ham is uncooked, cured, dried, smoked-or-unsmoked, made from a single piece of meat from the hind leg of a hog or from a single piece of meat from a pork shoulder. Virginia's famous Smithfield ham, a country ham, must be grown and produced in or around Smithfield, Virginia, to be sold as such. Similar, lesser known hams from Tennessee and the Appalachians have a similar method of preparation but are more likely to include honey or hickory in their cures.

For most other purposes, under US law, a "ham" is a cured hind leg of pork that is at least 20.5% protein (not counting fat portions) and contains no added water. However, "ham" can be legally applied to such things as "turkey ham" if the meat is taken from the thigh of the animal. If the ham has less than 20.5% but is at least 18.5% protein, it can be called "ham with natural juices". A ham that is at least 17.0% protein and up to 10% added solution can be called "ham—water added". Finally, "ham and water product" refers to a cured hind leg of pork product that contains any amount of added water, although the label must indicate the percent added ingredients. If a ham has been cut into pieces and molded, it must be labelled "sectioned and formed" or "chunked and formed".

Sugar is common in many dry hams because of its prevalence in the United States. The majority of common wet-cured ham available in U.S. supermarkets is of the "city ham" variety, in which brine is injected into the meat for a very rapid curing suitable for mass market. Traditional wet curing requires immersing the ham in a brine for an extended period, often followed by light smoking.

In addition to the main categories, some processing choices can affect legal labelling. A 'smoked' ham must have been smoked by hanging over burning wood chips in a smokehouse, and a "hickory-smoked" ham must have been smoked over hickory. Injecting "smoke flavour" is not legal grounds for claiming the ham was "smoked". Hams can only be labelled "honey-cured" if honey was at least 50% of the sweetener used and has a discernible effect on flavour. So-called "lean" and "extra lean" hams must adhere to maximum levels of fat and cholesterol per 100 grams of product.

One of the most popular and expensive hams in the United States is Smithfield or Virginia ham. Through a special curing process Smithfield ham ages. In that time a fungal coat forms over the outside of the ham while the rest of the meat continues to age. This process produces a distinctive flavour, but the fungal layer must be scrubbed off the ham before being cooked or served.

Turkey ham, a boneless product made from pressed dark turkey meat, a popular low-fat alternative to traditional ham in the US.

A spiral-slicing process has become popular for boneless hams sold by delicatessens in the US.

Tinned Ham

Tinned ham (more commonly known in the United States as "canned ham") is a meat product that is sold exclusively in tins (or 'cans'). The ham itself is usually formed from smaller cuts of meat, cooked in the can, and is often covered in an aspic jelly during the canning process.

Tinned ham is usually sold in supermarkets and convenience stores.