Smithfield ham facts for kids

Smithfield ham is a special kind of country ham. It is made and preserved in a unique way. This ham gets its name because it must be cured in the town of Smithfield, which is in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, USA.

A Look Back: How Smithfield Ham Started

People have been selling Smithfield ham for a very long time. The first known record of it being sold was in 1779. This was a receipt for ham sold to people on an island called St. Eustatius.

Rules for Real Smithfield Ham

In 1926, the state of Virginia made official rules about what could be called "Smithfield Ham." The Virginia government said that real Smithfield hams had to come from pigs that ate peanuts. These pigs also had to be raised in certain areas of Virginia or North Carolina. Most importantly, the ham had to be cured, smoked, and processed right in the town of Smithfield, Virginia.

Later, in 1966, some of these rules changed. The part about pigs eating peanuts was removed. Now, the rules focus on how the ham is made and where.

The current rules say that a real Smithfield ham must be:

• Processed, treated, and smoked.
• Cured using a special "long-cure, dry salt method."
• Aged for at least six months. This aging time starts when the fresh pork is first covered in dry salt.

All of these steps – the salting, processing, treating, smoking, curing, and aging – must happen inside the town limits of Smithfield, Virginia. If a ham is aged for even longer than six months to get a richer flavor, that extra aging must also happen in Smithfield. This ensures that all genuine Smithfield hams are truly a product of the town.

Gallery

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  Pigs that used to be fed peanuts

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  Hams being cured with dry salt

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  Hams hanging to age