|
|
||
Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without his historic delicacy. By Reed Hellman. THE SMITHFIELD CATALOG GROUP Date published: 11/6/2004
IN 1779, Capt. Mallory Todd, of Smithfield in Virginia, shipped a quantity of cured hams to Elliston and John Perot on the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius. In return, Capt. Mallory received, among other items, a 2-pound cannon and a hat. This transaction marked the first known commercial sale of the now-legendary Smithfield hams. Connoisseurs recognize the Smithfield ham as one of the world's great delicacies. On a par with Spain's Serranos and Italy's Parmas and prosciuttos, genuine Smithfield has a distinctive dark-pink color and pungent flavor--robust, salty, and rich with hardwood smoke. A Smithfield ham is very much a product of American history and environment. As early as 1609, the Jamestown colonists were raising hogs for food. A hog could be turned loose in the woods to forage for itself--unlike a cow, which needed particular food and was not nearly as hardy. Hogs flourished on oak and beech mast and were grazed in peanut fields after the harvest to fatten up on any remaining nuts. The American Indians showed the European settlers methods for using salt and wood smoke to cure the meat for storage. Though Mallory Todd's original smokehouse on the bank of the Pagan River has grown into today's giant Smithfield Foods, and curing hams is no longer a strictly seasonal activity, the basic product has remained nearly constant. In 1926, the General Assembly of the commonwealth of Virginia enacted a law stipulating that a genuine Smithfield ham must be made from a peanut-fed razorback hog, raised in the "peanut belt" of Virginia or North Carolina and cured within the town limits of Smithfield. Since that time, the town limits have had to be expanded a time or two, and in 1968, a Senate bill was passed stating that the hogs no longer had to be raised in the peanut belt. But to carry the proud title "Genuine Smithfield," the ham still must be made within the town's limits, following the traditional process.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
||||||||||||
