What is Ham

Ham (English: Ham), is a cured or smoked animal leg (such as cow leg, lamb leg, pig leg, chicken leg), is salted, smoked, fermented and dried cured animal hind legs, also known as "fire meat" "Lan smoked". It is a traditional Chinese specialty. Originally from Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, modern Jinhua, Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Rugao, Jiangxi Anfu and Yunnan Xuanwei produced the most famous ham.

Jinhua ham, also known as fire crescent, one of the traditional local products of Jinhua, Zhejiang. Has a beautiful appearance, bright meat, unique aroma, pleasing flavor, that is, color, aroma, taste, shape, "four best" and known in the world, the Qing Dynasty by the Zhejiang Province Cabinet Bachelor Xie Yong introduced to Beijing, has been listed as a tribute, Xie Yong's "food and taste of miscellaneous aria" mentioned: "Jinhua people more than one field, wine, breeding The people of Jinhua planted more fields, brewed wine, and raised ragweed. Every cooked rice, must first strain juice and bad feed pigs, pigs eat bad fat. Ham makers need a lot of pigs to get a good price. Therefore, more people raise pigs." The essence of Chinese cured meat products. Jinhua produced "two head of Wu" pig, hind leg fat, tender meat, after salt, shaping, turning the leg, washing and drying, air-drying and other procedures, a few months is into. The flavor is strong. Easy to store and carry, has been selling well at home and abroad.

The production of ham through more than eighty processes. Can tell a brief process: fresh pig leg acceptance ★, trimming leg blanks, curing ★ (curing room, leg bed, the total salt for the fresh leg weight of 9% ~ 12%, the amount of sodium nitrite ≤ 0.3 ‰) (* * * six times), dip the leg, washed the leg (stamping, the first time, the second time), sunshine leg, shaping (a number of times), fermentation storage (temperature ≤ 35 ° C; relative humidity of 70% ~ 82%, between fermentation) (repair dry knife, (pest inspection), shelving and grading, stacking (turning and rubbing oil), finished product. Note: ★Quality control points.

Grading Standards

There are 4 kinds of hams sold in the market: South leg is a kind of ham produced in Jinhua area, North leg is produced in Rugao area in the north of Jiangsu Province, Cloud leg is produced in Xuanwei and Rongfeng area in Yunnan Province, and Chuan leg refers to the ham produced in Sichuan area. Among them, Jinhua ham is the most famous, and there are Jiang leg, tea leg, tribute leg, bamboo leaf smoked leg.

The hams are divided into different grades according to their weight, appearance and odor.

Special grade ham weighs about 2.5 to 4 kilograms each, with a beautiful, neat appearance, dry and whole skin, fine claws, full leg heart,

Oil head is small, lean meat, more fat less fat.

First-class ham weighs about 2-4.5 kilograms each, with a complete leg shape, smooth and dry, small head of oil, no cracks, insect moths, rodent bites and other scars.

Second-grade ham weighs about 2 to 5 kilograms each, with a slightly thicker skin, more fat than first-grade, salty meat, thicker legs, and a beautiful and neat appearance.

Third-grade ham weighs about 2 to 5 kilograms each, with thick, fat legs, more fat, slightly rough knife work, slightly bruised.

Fourth-grade ham weighs about 1.5 to 5 kilograms each, the leg is thick and fat, the skin is thick, the style of the leg is poor, the meat is not wrapped around the bone, and there is insect damage but not serious.

Because of the different raw materials used and processing season and curing methods, Jinhua ham and there are many different varieties. Such as Jinhua ham according to the curing season, there is the Chongyang to the winter of the "early winter legs", there is the winter or snow to the spring of the "winter legs", there is the spring to the equinox of the "early spring legs", there is the equinox of the "late spring legs". There are also "late spring legs" that are marinated after the spring equinox. According to the raw materials used, there is the "ham" processed from the hind leg of the pig, the "wind leg" or "square leg" processed from the front leg of the pig, and the "moon leg" cured from the front leg with the sinews removed. Moon leg", also known as "cloud hoof" or "hoof run", "Hundred Days' Leg" processed from the hind leg of a dog, "Deep Mountain Leg" processed from the hind leg of a wild boar, "Deep Mountain Leg" processed from the front leg of a pig. Processed "deep mountain leg" also known as "small precious leg", there are pig tail processing "small ham". According to the processing method, there are "Jiang Leg" with unique processing technology and method, "Bamboo Leaf Smoked Leg" with bamboo leaf smoking, "Sauce Leg" with first salt and then sweet sauce, "Sugar Leg" with first salt and then sugar curing, and "Sugar Leg" with first salt and then sugar curing. There are also "sugar legs", "air-frozen legs", which are salted and then air-dried. There are also "tribute leg," "tea leg," "golden leg," and "hygienic leg," which are categorized according to the way they are eaten. The newly created "ham heart" and ham small packaged products, and derived from other ham as an ingredient in the series of food, but also countless.

Jinhua ham production area for the city of Jinhua City under the jurisdiction of wucheng District, Jindong District, Lanxi City, Yongkang City, Yiwu City, Dongyang City, Wuyi County, Pujiang County, Pan'an County, as well as Quzhou City under the jurisdiction of the city of Kecheng District, Jiangshan City, Qu County, Longyou County, Changshan County, Kaifa County and other 15 counties, municipalities (districts) under the jurisdiction of the current administrative area. Jinhua ham as a commodity common name at the same time, but also Jinhua region of various types, a variety of ham in general.

Jinhua ham quality that the formation of the "four best" features, is closely related to the specific conditions of the Jinhua region.

First of all, Jinhua ham is made from Jinhua pigs, especially the two-headed crow. Jinhua pig has the unique advantages of thin skin and fine bone, appropriate proportion of meat fat, tender muscle and delicious meat, which is the foundation and prerequisite for making high-quality ham. The formation of Jinhua pig is related to the ecological conditions and traditional animal husbandry in Jinhua region, mainly: the basin topography of Jinhua and the underdeveloped transportation in the ancient times, which formed a natural "closed" breeding environment for Jinhua pig, making its excellent traits gradually stabilized and purified; the climate and temperature of the four seasons of Jinhua are more suitable for the breeding of Jinhua pig, which has a medium shape, thin skin and fine bones, and early maturity. The Jinhua pig has a medium shape, thin skin and fine bone, early maturity and easy to fertilize.

Secondly, the production area is densely populated, and the working people have always had a tradition of hard work, hard work, wisdom, which contributed to the Jinhua ham processing techniques and technology, and on the basis of summarizing the traditional experience of thousands of years, to strive for excellence and innovation, forming a unique advantages and flavor of the Jinhua ham "family" in the Chinese ham industry is unique and unmatched in the Chinese ham industry. It is unique and unrivaled in China's ham industry.

Once again, the unique natural geographic conditions of the Jinhua region, that is, in the curing period of the ham at a suitable temperature, sunshine during the period of washing and drying, fermentation period of temperature and humidity is appropriate, so that the product can be gradually air-drying, normal brewing, natural maturity of the aroma.

The ham production experience of fresh pork leg acceptance, trimming leg blanks, curing (curing room, leg bed, the total salt for the fresh leg weight of 9% ~ 12%, the amount of sodium nitrite ≤ 0.3 ‰) (*** six times), dip the leg, wash the leg (stamping, the first time, the second time), sunshine leg, shaping (a number of times), fermentation and storage (temperature ≤ 35 ℃; relative humidity of 70% ~ 82%, the fermentation room) (*** six times), dip the leg, washing the leg (stamp, first, second), sun-drying leg, plastic (several times), fermentation storage (temperature ≤ 35 ℃; relative humidity of 70% ~ 82%, fermentation room) ( Repairing dry knife, insect pest inspection), falling rack grading, stacking (turning pile rubbing oil), finished products and other eighty processes.

The brief process is as follows:

1, choose the famous breed of pig Jinhua "two-headed crow" as raw materials;

2, ham raw materials cooled;

3, ham raw materials for trimming;

4, the Commodity Inspection Bureau of the raw materials of the ham for hygiene inspection;

5, curing ham;

6, cleaning ham;

7, cleaned ham shaping;

8, stamped with the Jinhua ham seal;

9, ham tanning field shaping;

10, ham fermentation;

11, ham fermentation after the quality inspection;

12, ham single simple packaging;

13, sensory inspection of ham;

14, microbiological examination of ham products;

15, physical and chemical analysis of ham products;

16, sanitary inspection of the equipment by the personnel of the Commodity Inspection Bureau.