Years ago Jimmy got with a couple of buddies and they decided they were going to cure country hams. They each put down two hams. They actually bought a whole hog each, got it processed with the hams, pork chops and sausage. They were so very excited about it. And before they went through the “May sweat” the hams were ruined. I think that maybe one or two survived but the others were ruined. And the problem was that they couldn’t just take those hams and put them in the freezer, they were ruined.
So a couple of years later Jimmy cleaned out our smoke house and decided that he was going to put up country hams like his dad used to. He put a couple of hams into the smoke house, cured the way he was raised, and sat back and waited. And those hams were worth the wait.
The next year he put down a couple more. In fact, through the years he got so good, and so comfortable with the hams that he put them in the Kentucky State Fair. They were selected in the Top 10 of the state.
The first year he put one in the State Fair he asked a friend of mine, Beth, who lives in Louisville, if he could put the ham into her basement after the “May sweat” so it could stay cool until it needed to be delivered to the fairgrounds in August. I’m not sure if he mentioned to her that she needed to take the ham out to the fairgrounds but she did that. The year I took one out there I was ready to kill him because it was a big deal to get it entered into the fair. She was rewarded though when he asked her to go back out to pick it up and he gave it to her. Actually, he gave it to her mom and dad. We went by their house to pick up the ribbon and Mrs. Hammer checked the ham to see how good it was.
I thought Jimmy was going to hug her right there. Mrs. Hammer’s dad had worked in the dining room for a railroad line. He used to have to select the country hams, so he would take an ice pick and insert it into the ham so he wouldn’t have to cut into it to see if it was any good. Mrs. Hammer stuck her ice pick into the ham. When she smelled the ice pick she got this huge smile on her face. Jimmy was so proud. But what was so funny was when we left Beth and her Daddy got into the car with that ham and went and got it sliced. They would then ration the ham out so that it would last until they got the next one, the next year.
Through the years this was the way that it went. Jimmy got to where he would put up 6 or 8 hams. It seemed that we ate pork chops and sausage for an entire year. There were people who got used to getting hams from Jimmy year after year. Now, don’t get me wrong. We didn’t sell hams. Jimmy’s dad used to sell hams years ago. Then the health department got involved and stopped people from selling hams out of their smoke houses. They all had to be inspected. So, Jimmy’s dad quit selling hams. But he had a couple of customers who said they didn’t want to buy a ham from him anymore, anyway. They wanted him to give them a present of a country ham, at Christmas time. Then they would give him a Christmas present too. So, Jimmy didn’t sell hams. But there were some people who just insisted on giving him a present if he gave them a ham.
Jimmy decided to quit taking hams up to the State Fair. He realized that he would never win the Grand Champion ham. Jimmy salt cures his hams. His hams are not round and plump. They are cut long, with the shaft still on them and they’re shriveled up. They smell good though. And they taste great. The hams that win the Grand Champion are sugar cured. The problem with sugar cured hams for a country farmer is that once they’re cured they have to be kept in a cooler. Most farmers don’t have a commercial cooler to keep their hams.
Then a couple of years ago we had a really weird winter. Jimmy lost 7 out of 8 hams. Hams have to go down into salt when it’s cold, but not too cold. It can’t be so cold that the hams don’t take salt. Once they’ve been down in the salt for awhile then they’re hung up and smoked. Well, that year the weather just didn’t fall right and the hams didn’t cure correctly and by the time Jimmy knew it they were ruined.
Last year the weather didn’t work out right at all. So we didn’t get to put any hams down. We were now out of hams.
So this year, instead of buying a bunch of hogs, Jimmy found a place where he could buy just the hams. You see, the hams have to come from the right kind of hogs, and they have to processed the right way. Jimmy’s dad always used a yard hog for his country hams. A yard hog is a hog that has been raised on dirt, not concrete. Years ago that wasn’t hard to find. Nowadays it’s not as easy. And the thing about having a hog processed, it has to be scalded, not skinned. You can’t find anyone who scalds hogs anymore. There are some Amish who scald, but not for the public. There are some family processors but they just do it for themselves. There are some groups of people out there who are trying to go back to the basics and do things like they were done 100 years ago. But they’re not out there yet. So getting someone to scald the hogs is almost impossible.
So Jimmy got the hams and salted them down. Then the weather turned really cold. When they came out of the salt he didn’t want them to freeze. So he put some heat on them before he put any fire under them. He was smoking them for about a week when the weather turned warm. The second day of really nice, warm weather, and the hams began showing signs of being spoiled. They were swelling. That usually means that they are ruined.
So, even though Jimmy grew up watching his dad and uncles cure country hams, and even though he’s been successful at curing hams for years, today he said that he probably won’t ever put another one up. It’s too much money, it’s too much time, it’s having to wait too long.
I can’t believe we’ll never have the flavor of one of Jimmy’s hams again. Maybe next year I can talk him into trying it just one more time.