Why is Jinhua ham world-famous and how is it made?

Jinhua ham is a local delicacy made from fresh pig hind legs, pickled with edible salt, soaked in clear water and shaped and fermented.

Jinhua ham is the most famous place in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, and its specialty is also a world-famous specialty food. Many people are interested in this method of making ham and want to make it at home. However, the traditional Jinhua ham is troublesome to make, and it takes many attempts to master its steps and skills. Fresh pig hind legs should be prepared for Jinhua ham, and the weight should be about 3 kg. The hind legs of pigs are required to be stuffed, fat and thin, with bright red muscles and full legs.

First, trim the raw materials and add salt.

Prepare a lot of fresh pig hind legs, trim them carefully, scrape off all the fine hairs and black blood on the pig legs, remove the hard shell on the pig's trotters, trim the leg edges into arcs, remove the excess fat on the leg surface to make the surface smooth, and then coat the surface with appropriate amount of edible salt. When smearing, the pork hind leg meat is pulled upward for a long time, and then the edible salt is put on the surface and smeared hard. Where there are more fat and bones, it should be rubbed repeatedly, and it should be smeared again after 2-3 days, and the blood at the bottom of the basin should be poured out in time. If it is applied repeatedly for 6-7 times, there will be white eye cream on the surface of the meat and the muscles will become hard.

Second, soak and scrub.

Soaking and scrubbing Jinhua ham after curing is also an important processing step. The water temperature should be kept at about 10℃ and the soaking time should be about 10 hour when the brewed ham is soaked in clear water, so that the skin is soft and the meat is thorough. After Jinhua ham is soaked, it is necessary to brush off the salt frost and stains on the surface with a soft brush, then rinse it with clear water and soak it in clear water for two hours.

Thirdly, drying, shaping, air drying and fermentation.

Jinhua ham should be tied with rope after soaking and hung in the sun to dry. The drying time should be about 5~6 days until the skin surface is bright. The oily lean meat on the surface of Huang Liang becomes a rosy leg surface, which is basically dry and can be put away after hardening. At this time, it should be hung in a dry and ventilated place to further evaporate water and let the protein in the muscle ferment and decompose. In the process of its fermentation, a layer of green or gray-green mold will appear on the surface, and the ham will ferment in about half a month, and then a special flavor will appear. Fermented Jinhua ham should be stored in a dry environment to avoid humidity, and attention should be paid to environmental humidity during fermentation. The humidity should not be too high, otherwise it will affect its normal fermentation.