Westfälischer Knochenschinken

Appearance & taste

The ham is a strong dark pink to dark red and has a yellow rind. After maturing, its cut surface is deep red and slightly marbled. It tastes savoury but mild, with a mild smoky flavour depending on the variant; the marrow bone, which stays in the ham during maturing, gives it a slightly nutty note. The air-dried variant is particularly mild and tender.

The ham contains at most 6.5 % salt; the water content is at most 65 % (smoked) or 62 % (air-dried). According to the specification, the lower water content and the long curing and maturing time distinguish it from other hams in texture, firmness and taste. Phosphates and glucono-delta-lactone are not allowed.

Production

The starting material is a whole hind leg ham on the bone; on delivery its core must be colder than 7 °C. All sides are salted by hand, then the hams go into tubs, and more salt is scattered between the layers. A brine forms of its own accord; injecting brine is prohibited. For three to six weeks the hams are repacked in this brine every week. Because the salt has to penetrate naturally right to the bone, curing takes at least three weeks.

The hams are then taken out, rest in a tub to “after-cure”, are soaked in water if necessary, scrubbed and hung up. They go into pre-drying or, for the smoked variant, into beechwood smoke. Until they reach the desired maturity, they are washed and dried from time to time. With the bone in, the ham dries more slowly, so it matures for at least six months. Only then may it be sold, boned, sliced and vacuum-packed. From delivery to full maturity it stays in the production area.

Origin & history

According to the specification, the damp, cool climate shaped by the North Sea is well suited to fattening pigs and to smoked ham. In the past, pigs roamed freely in the Westphalian oak forests, and almost everyone could keep a pig and make ham. Traditionally, people began in the cool winter so that the ham could be cut at the beginning of May, in time for the asparagus season. The method of production was passed down from generation to generation.

According to the specification, the Romans already transported Westphalian hams on the bone as far as Italy. In the 12th century they were in demand at the main market in Cologne, and the city of Dortmund gave Emperor Sigismund twelve hams. The north window of the church of Maria zur Wiese in Soest, made around 1500, shows the “Westphalian Last Supper” with beer and ham instead of bread and wine. In the wars of 1674 to 1678, hams from the Sauerland were sent to Vienna to avert plundering and billeting. Heinrich Heine called Westphalia the “fatherland of hams”, and the “Westphalian heaven” is the area above the open hearth in farmhouses where hams used to hang for smoking.