Interpretive Summary: Country ham: a true American food icon

By: Dana J Hanson

Implications

• Dry-cured country ham is a traditional American food, with roots in European curing practices.
• With country ham representing only about 2% of United States ham production, further decline in demand could marginalize the industry unless matched with effective marketing and product innovation.
• Research in food safety, sodium reduction, pest control, and pig genetics is necessary to maintain product quality while meeting modern consumer and regulatory expectations.

Introduction

Globally, salt curing has been used to preserve meat for thousands of years, but in the United States, dry-cured country ham has evolved into something distinctly American. A product of geography, necessity, and ingenuity, country ham reflects ­European curing practices adapted by settlers who came to the New World (Evans-Hylton, 2004). As early as the 1500s, pigs were brought to the Americas because of their prolific breeding, adaptability, and ability to forage (Marriott and Ockerman, 2004). Pork meat became a central protein source for many colonists. To preserve this food for later consumption, salt curing offered the perfect solution (Marriott and Ockerman, 2004).

Read the full article in Animal Frontiers: Current Topics in Meat Processing.