How is ham made?

The production of ham goes through more than 80 processes. We can talk about the simple process: acceptance of fresh pork legs ★, trimming and cutting of leg blanks, curing ★ (curing room and leg bed, the total salt content is 9%~ 12% of the weight of fresh legs, and the dosage of sodium nitrite is ≤0.3‰)(* * * * six times), soaking legs, washing legs (stamping, first and second times), and. Relative humidity 70%~82%, fermentation room) (dry knife, pest inspection), shelf grading, stacking (turning and oiling), finished product. Note: ★ Quality control point.

grade scale

There are four kinds of hams sold in the market: the south leg is a kind of ham produced in Jinhua, the north leg is produced in Rugao, northern Jiangsu, the cloud leg is produced in Xuanwei and Rong Feng, and the Sichuan leg refers to the ham produced in Sichuan. Jinhua ham is the most famous, which can be divided into Jiang leg, tea leg, tribute leg and bamboo leaf smoked leg.

Ham is divided into different grades according to its weight, appearance and smell.

Each super ham weighs about 2.5 ~ 4 kilograms, and has a beautiful and neat appearance, dry skin, thin claws and legs.

Small oil head, more lean meat and less fat.

Each first-class ham weighs about 2 ~ 4.5 kg, and its leg shape is complete, smooth and dry, with small oil head and no cracks, insect bites, rat bites and other scars.

The second-grade ham weighs about 2 ~ 5 kg each, with slightly thicker skin, more fat than the first-grade ham, salty meat, thick legs and beautiful and tidy appearance.

Each third-grade ham weighs about 2 ~ 5 kilograms, and its legs are thick and fat, and its knife work is rough and slightly scarred.

Four-grade hams each weigh about 1.5 ~ 5 Jin, with thick legs, thick skin, poor leg shape, no bones in the meat, and moth-eaten but not serious.

Due to different raw materials, processing seasons and curing methods, Jinhua ham has many different varieties. For example, Jinhua ham is divided into "early winter legs" from Chongyang to beginning of winter, "normal winter legs" from beginning of winter or Xiaoxue to beginning of spring, "early spring legs" from beginning of spring to the vernal equinox, and "late spring legs" after the vernal equinox. According to the raw materials used, there are ham processed by pig's hind legs, wind legs processed by pig's front legs, moon legs pickled by front legs, cloud hoofs or hoofs, dog's hind legs and wild boar's hind legs. According to the processing methods, there are unique processing techniques and methods, such as "Jiang Leg", "Bamboo Leaf Smoked Leg", "Sauce Leg" with salt before sweet sauce, "Sugar Leg" with salt before sugar, and "Wind Frozen Leg" with salt water drying. There are also "tribute legs", "tea legs", "golden legs" and "sanitary legs" which are also divided according to eating methods. Newly-built "ham heart" and ham small packaging products, as well as a series of foods derived from other hams are countless.

The origin of Jinhua ham is Wucheng District, Jindong District, Lanxi City, Yongkang City, Yiwu City, Dongyang City, Wuyi County, Pujiang County and Pan 'an County under the jurisdiction of Jinhua City, and Kecheng District, Jiangshan City, Quxian County, Longyou County, Changshan County and Kaihua County under the jurisdiction of Quzhou City 15 counties and cities (districts). Jinhua ham, as the general name of commodities, is also the general name of all kinds of hams in Jinhua area.

The quality of Jinhua ham, that is, the formation of "four unique features", is closely related to the specific conditions in Jinhua area.

First of all, Jinhua ham is made of Jinhua pig, especially with two blackheads. Jinhua pig has the unique advantages of thin skin and thin bones, proper meat-fat ratio, tender muscles and delicious meat, which is the basis and premise of making high-quality ham. The formation of Jinhua pig is related to the ecological conditions and traditional animal husbandry in Jinhua area, which is mainly manifested as follows: the basin topography and ancient traffic in Jinhua are underdeveloped, forming a natural "closed" breeding environment for Jinhua pig, which gradually stabilizes and purifies its excellent characters; The climate and temperature in Jinhua four seasons are more suitable for Jinhua pig breeding, which makes it medium in size, thin in skin and thin in bone, early in maturity and easy to fatten.

Secondly, the production area is vast and sparsely populated, and the working people have always had a tradition of hard work, hard work and wisdom, which contributed to the processing technology and technology of Jinhua ham. On the basis of summarizing thousands of years' traditional experience, Jinhua ham "family" with unique advantages and flavor has been formed, which is unique and unparalleled in China ham industry.

Thirdly, it is the unique natural geographical conditions in Jinhua area, that is, the temperature in curing period is appropriate, the sunshine in washing and drying period is sufficient, and the temperature and humidity in fermentation period are appropriate, so that the products are gradually dried, brewed normally, naturally matured and fragrant.

The production of ham includes the following steps: acceptance of fresh pork legs, trimming and cutting leg blanks, curing (curing room and leg bed, the total salt content is 9%~ 12% of the weight of fresh legs, and the dosage of sodium nitrite is ≤0.3‰)(* * * * six times), soaking legs, washing legs (stamping, first and second times) and drying legs. Relative humidity 70%~82%, fermentation room) (dry knife, pest inspection), shelf grading, stacking (turning and oiling), finished products, etc.

The concise process is as follows:

1, using Jinhua famous breeding pig "Liangtouwu" as raw material;

2, ham raw materials are spread cold;

3. Trim the ham raw materials;

4, the commodity inspection bureau personnel to carry out health inspection of ham raw materials;

5. salted ham;

6. Wash the ham;

7, shaping the washed ham;

8. Stamp Jinhua ham;

9, ham threshing plastic surgery;

10, ham fermentation;

1 1, quality inspection of fermented ham;

12. Simple packaging of ham;

13, sensory test of ham;

14, microbiological examination of ham products;

15. Physical and chemical analysis of ham products;

16. the personnel of the commodity inspection bureau carried out sanitary inspection on the equipment.