Ham That Can Hang Uptown

Turning Virginia's Dry-Cured Pride Into New-World Prosciutto

(Katherine Frey - Twp)

FULKS RUN, Va.

It's safe to say that none of Ron Turner's neighbors along the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, west of New Market, would dream of eating raw country ham. But the owner of Turner Ham House knows that his uncooked, 1-year-old ham can be thinly sliced and served like prosciutto, the $25-per-pound Italian import.

"You can take our ham and do everything you do with prosciutto," said Turner.

For generations, rural families in Virginia have been curing the hams that are a mainstay of Southern cooking. But now they believe that their $2.99-per-pound whole hams -- when cured for a year rather than the usual 70 days -- can compete successfully with elite salt-cured and air-dried European varieties. Even the U.S. government agrees that they are essentially the same product.

Pork purveyors plan to meet in Williamsburg in late March to come up with a strategy. They maintain that country ham, like fine wine, improves with age, and they want the public to take a fresh look.

They also want to change the way Americans think about cured pork, the way they eat it and even what they call it. Ham man Sam Edwards III, president of S. Wallace Edwards & Sons of Surry, Va., has a name in mind. Heritage Ham, anyone?

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The basic curing procedure is essentially the same at most ham houses and hasn't changed since Jamestown colonists learned the secrets of meat curing from local Indians. The fresh, or green, hams, which come from the hind legs of hogs, are hand-rubbed with "flake salt" and a small amount of sodium nitrate. The salt preserves the meat, while the sodium nitrate sets the tawny, terra cotta color.

On a recent afternoon at the Turner Ham House, about 2,000 fresh, plump hams arrive for processing. For the Turners, it's a busy day -- the first day of the ham year.

Turner, 42, appears fit and natty in a matching work shirt and hat with the company logo. He's a fourth-generation ham man. His temperature- and humidity-controlled warehouse, built in 1966 and filled with drying pork, has a musky aroma. The warehouse sits on the bank of the river, next to the family's well-maintained croquet court and the Fulks Run Grocery that Turner runs with his wife Peggie.

Turner adds brown sugar to his cure, "rubbing it in on the butt and packing it into the hock, just like my great-grandfather did." After about seven weeks, the hams are washed and hung in net bags to dry, hocks up. After a minimum of 70 days of drying time, the legs can be sold as country ham. If dried for a year, the hams shrink and lose 25 to 30 percent of their weight. (Essentially, country ham and Smithfield ham are the same thing. But to carry the Smithfield name, the ham must be processed inside the corporate limits of Smithfield, Va.)

Turner would prefer to sell most of his cured hams in early summer to vendor at carnivals and country fairs, for the very practical reason that "the longer you have them, the longer the money is tied up with hams just hanging there." At the moment, Turner views the promotion of country ham as prosciutto as "just a side market we're playing with."