The first record of the commercial sale of cured "Smithfield Ham" is a receipt to Ellerston and John Perot on the Dutch Caribbean Island of St Eustatius, dating from 1779.[1]
The Isle of Wight County Museum holds P.D. Gwaltney Jr.'s "pet ham". It is thought to be the world's oldest ham, having been cured in 1902.
The Commonwealth of Virginia first regulated usage of the term "Smithfield Ham" in a 1926 Statute passed by its General Assembly stating:
Genuine Smithfield hams [are those] cut from the carcasses of peanut-fed hogs, raised in the peanut-belt of the Commonwealth of Virginia or the State of North Carolina, and which are cured, treated, smoked, and processed in the town of Smithfield, in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The "peanut-fed" and "peanut-belt" stipulations were removed in 1966. The present statute reads:[2]
...Genuine Smithfield hams are hereby defined to be hams processed, treated, smoked, aged, cured by the long-cure, dry salt method of cure; and, aged for a minimum period of six months; such six-month period to commence when the green pork cut is first introduced to dry salt, all such salting, processing, treating, smoking, curing, and aging to be done within the corporate limits of the town of Smithfield, Virginia
While it is unclear whether the green pork (the raw product of the cured ham) may come from hogs raised and slaughtered in other than Smithfield, Virginia, the statute stipulates that the six-month (minimum duration) curing clock is to begin when the green pork is "introduced to dry salt", and that through the entire duration of the process, the ham and its processing must occur within Smithfield, Virginia. The statute also commands that any richer or more intense cure, obtained from an aging that is in excess of six months, must also be done within Smithfield, Virginia.
smithfield, confused, with, smithfield, foods, specific, form, country, finish, cured, town, smithfield, isle, wight, county, hampton, roads, region, virginia, contents, history, gallery, also, referenceshistory, editthe, first, record, commercial, sale, cured. Not to be confused with Smithfield Foods Smithfield ham is a specific form of country ham finish cured in the town of Smithfield in Isle of Wight County in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia U S Contents 1 History 2 Gallery 3 See also 4 ReferencesHistory editThe first record of the commercial sale of cured Smithfield Ham is a receipt to Ellerston and John Perot on the Dutch Caribbean Island of St Eustatius dating from 1779 1 nbsp The Isle of Wight County Museum holds P D Gwaltney Jr s pet ham It is thought to be the world s oldest ham having been cured in 1902 The Commonwealth of Virginia first regulated usage of the term Smithfield Ham in a 1926 Statute passed by its General Assembly stating Genuine Smithfield hams are those cut from the carcasses of peanut fed hogs raised in the peanut belt of the Commonwealth of Virginia or the State of North Carolina and which are cured treated smoked and processed in the town of Smithfield in the Commonwealth of Virginia The peanut fed and peanut belt stipulations were removed in 1966 The present statute reads 2 Genuine Smithfield hams are hereby defined to be hams processed treated smoked aged cured by the long cure dry salt method of cure and aged for a minimum period of six months such six month period to commence when the green pork cut is first introduced to dry salt all such salting processing treating smoking curing and aging to be done within the corporate limits of the town of Smithfield Virginia While it is unclear whether the green pork the raw product of the cured ham may come from hogs raised and slaughtered in other than Smithfield Virginia the statute stipulates that the six month minimum duration curing clock is to begin when the green pork is introduced to dry salt and that through the entire duration of the process the ham and its processing must occur within Smithfield Virginia The statute also commands that any richer or more intense cure obtained from an aging that is in excess of six months must also be done within Smithfield Virginia Gallery edit nbsp Postcard image of peanut fed hogs nbsp Postcard image of hams in the dry salt process nbsp Postcard image of Smithfield hams hung to ageSee also edit nbsp Food portalList of hams List of dried foods Jinhua hamReferences edit Images of America Smithfield Ham Capitol of the World excerpt from Google Books LIS gt Code of Virginia gt 3 2 5419 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Smithfield ham amp oldid 1193597024, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
