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Easter Ham on the table or on the go!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 04:00PM
Tags: hams, easter ham, farm ham, smoked ham, unsmoked ham
Filed in: Pipers Farm, Ham Easter,

With Easter fast approaching, we will be looking at a couple of our favourites ideas for the family gatherings! We would love to hear your thoughts and your favourites when it comes to the Easter weekend!

Ham is such a versatile Easter food as it provides a stunning centerpiece to the Easter meal but is also delicious cold the next day in sandwiches or salads- perfect when you have a number of guests over. Whether you prefer an unsmoked ham or one that has been lightly oak smoked, team it with our honey glaze for an effortlessly brilliant finish.

Our ham comes from our Saddleback pigs which are slowly reared to natural maturity, then hung for 3 weeks before being butchered here on the farm, and traditionally brine cured and air dried. This careful process ensures a fully developed flavour and texture which is sure to impress all of your guests this Easter. Pipers Farm hams are available cooked or uncooked, depending on how much time you have to spend on preparing your Easter Feast.

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Christmas Ham

Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 12:17PM
Tags: christmas, christmas ham, farm ham, hams, turkey
Filed in: Ham, Saddleback Christmas,

We know Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without turkey but we also feel the same way about our ham. Quite frankly our sons - Ed and Will - would disown us if we didn't have ham in the house at some point during Christmas week!

They tell us that the thing they really like about it is that they can just go and cut a slice off whenever they feel like it. OK, lets face it the whole family do it even when we know weâ€™re completely full! So what makes our ham even more more-ish than the rest? Well our Saddleback pigs are a traditional breed and spend the summer months running around in local cider orchards. Like all our animals they are slow grown to natural maturity ensuring that their meat has a truly memorable taste.

We rear our pigs for 34 weeks to reach a weight of 100-110 kilos, by contrast an industrially reared animal can be reared in anything between 18 and 23 weeks. This is a typical example of modern genetics being pushed to the limit using a high-powered diet based on soya ... in the process, eating pleasure has been totally ignored!

In our opinion, artificially high growth rates means that meat from these animals simply doesn't have the proper texture. But it does have the capacity to retain water and this is exploited to produce apparently cheap ham which we believe is certainly not offering good value for money. Contrast this with our pigs where the meat is perfectly marbled. They are cured in a traditional salt solution, with a minimal amount of salt petre, before being air dried for two weeks. We cook them slowly until they have a wonderfully moist and melting texture and we think the difference in taste is phenomenal.

We can't provide a lock for your fridge to prevent ham raiding, but this year we are offering a free pot of our home-made honey with all our uncooked whole, half and quarter hams so that you can create a delicious glaze on the top of your ham! Just criss cross the top with a knife and pour on the glaze. Baste a couple of times during cooking.