Brief introduction of Jinhua ham

Zhejiang Jinhua flavor food. Legend has it that it originated in the Northern Song Dynasty, when Zong Ze, a famous soldier in the Northern Song Dynasty, was defeated and returned. The villagers scrambled to send pig legs back to Kaifeng to comfort the soldiers. Because of the long journey, they salted them for carrying. Pickled pork legs are red as fire, which is called ham. It was listed as a tribute in Qing Dynasty. The "two-headed black" pig produced in Jinhua has fat hind legs and tender meat. It takes several months to make it through the procedures of salting, shaping, turning legs, washing and drying. Strong fragrance. Easy to store and carry, it has sold well at home and abroad.

The history of Jinhua ham

Jinhua ham has a long history. It is said that Zong Ze (Yiwu), a famous anti-gold star in the Southern Song Dynasty, was the granddaddy of ham industry. Some legends say that he took the pork from his hometown to the palace after pickling and presented it to the emperor. When the emperor saw that the cut leg meat was as red as fire, he named it "Jinhua Ham".

Brilliance of Jinhua ham

Since then, Jinhua ham has been famous at home and abroad for its "four wonders" of color, fragrance, taste and shape, and has been exported to Japan and Southeast Asian countries as early as the Qing Dynasty. He won the special prize of commodity quality in Panama International Commodities Fair in 19 15. Since the 1930s, Jinhua ham has been selling well in Britain and America.

Types of Jinhua ham

Due to the different raw materials, processing seasons and curing methods, Jinhua ham has many different varieties. If pickled in the dead of winter, it is called zhengdong leg; Those who trim their legs into crescent shapes are called moon legs; Processed with front legs, rectangular, called wind legs; Hanging between pots and stoves, often smoked by bamboo leaves, called smoked legs; Pickled with sugar, called sugar legs; There are also pickled with dog legs, which are called legs.

Characteristics of Jinhua ham

Jinhua ham is refined from the hind legs of Jinhua two-headed black pigs. Its skin color is Huang Liang, it looks like bamboo leaves, its flesh color is ruddy, its aroma is rich, its nutrition is rich, and it is delicious. It is a gift, a delicacy and a nourishing crystal. According to "Compendium of Materia Medica" compiled by Zhao Xuemin in Qing Dynasty, Jinhua ham is beneficial to kidney, stomach, fluid production, aphrodisiac, bone marrow consolidation and foot strength. In daily life, patients recover their vitality, the elderly live longer, and women take care of themselves after childbirth and eat ham, which can not only stimulate appetite, increase the taste of food, but also nourish and improve health, killing two birds with one stone, which is wonderful. There are more than ten ham factories in jindong district, with an annual output of 500,000 hams, which are sold all over the country and all over the world.

Supplement on Jinhua Ham

Zong Ze's story is true. The original name of ham was called hometown leg by Zong Ze.

A more scientific explanation of the origin of ham is like this. Ham actually originated in Wenzhou. There are often floods in Wenzhou, and because of the coastal areas, seawater flows backwards when there is a flood. After the flood, the farmers came back from the refuge. Because the monks could not run away from the temple, and because the flood came quickly and violently, large items such as livestock could not be taken away in time, farmers dug out some daily necessities and farm tools from the mud. Some drowned pigs were dug out of the mud and treated with natural nitrite and sodium chloride in seawater, and became natural bacon or ham. Although the pork was flooded by the sea, because there was no food to eat at that time, people tried to eat the meat that was flooded but not rotten. In fact, it tasted very good and was easy to keep fresh. Later, people invented the method of toad in the hole and bacon.

Ham is classified into special grades, first grade, second grade and third grade. It is necessary for knowledgeable people to insert a label to judge the quality of ham. The tag is made of bamboo, like an awl. A ham has three different parts, and each sign is in a different part. According to the different positions, it is divided into three signs: upper, middle and lower. Requirements for super legs: the claws should be bent, the ankles should be thin, the leg shape should be full like a leaf, the thickness of fat should not exceed 2 cm, and all three signs should have a good fragrance. Requirements for first-class legs: two of the three signs should have a good smell, but none of the three signs should have an odor. Requirements for secondary legs: no odor. Requirements for three-level legs: one sign smells bad. Super ham and first-class ham are covered with red rings, second-class ham with yellow rings, and third-class ham without rings. All three kinds of hams are stamped with Chinese gallnut ink. However, some hams are shoddy, so it should be better to go to a regular place when buying ham, such as a famous supermarket. It is also my pleasure to come to the ham factory to buy our factory, but it is not easy to find, usually in the suburbs. Some famous ham shops are also better, such as Bandung Ham Shop. If it is a general store, it depends on skill and luck.

In addition, there are two kinds of products that also use salted legs as raw materials, one is called whiteboard legs, which means Jinhua ham without seal (if it is made according to the standard). This kind of products will be stamped as Jinhua ham. Generally, their quality is not high, and they are likely to be incompletely fermented (semi-finished products) or have an odor. But it won't be too bad, and it will still get by (just look at it and you will know that you have thrown away the hopeless ones). The other is called salted dried leg, which is the product of air-dried salted leg without fermentation. Because this kind of leg can be made all year round, it is very likely to spray dichlorvos when there are many flies in hot weather. The color of normal ham is the dark red of roses, while the salted dried legs are bright red, just like the red on the girl's face, and it is softer than ham. Of course, according to the standard, salted dried legs should also have no rings or seals.

The production of ham goes through more than 80 processes. You 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 time, second time). Relative humidity 70%~82%, fermentation room) (dry knife, pest inspection), shelf grading, stacking (turning over the pile to wipe oil), finished products. Note: ★ Quality control point.

Ham is now sold only in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and Singapore, while only fakes are sold and smuggled in Japan. The kind of ham eaten for breakfast in Europe and America is Parma ham produced by mechanization all year round, and the price is about 100 yuan a catty. European standards are quite strict, requiring raw materials of pig legs to come from livestock farms, and no plague can occur within 200 kilometers around, so Jinhua ham has not yet entered the European and American markets.