4-H Hams
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Chuck Denney
Paris, Tennessee is ham country - site of the famed Clifty Farms plant. Whole or sliced, the company processes about one million hams a year. Small wonder then that the tradition of curing hams in this community now falls into younger hands – like 14-year-old Karlie Barnes. She cured her first ham this summer as part of a 4-H program, and had her moments - good and bad.
Karlie Barnes
“Well, at first I thought it was going to be fun, and it was fun. But it was kind of disgusting at the same time. There was mold on the ham, and then you had to wash if off during one part. But yeah, it was pretty fun.”
Chuck Denney
To be considered a true country ham, the meat must lose 18 percent of its weight from the beginning to the end of the curing process. 4-H’ers select and salt two hams in March, then monitor their progress until the final weigh-in at the Henry County Fair. This is the second go ‘round for the project. Last year organizers had 17 hams. This year the total topped 100 But this goes beyond just hanging a ham in a barn and then leaving it alone. Staci Foy with UT Extension in Henry County says kids learn the science of curing, but other skills too.
Staci Foy
“They have a final weight, so they have to calculate how much their ham has shrunk. So they’re using mathematics to calculate that. They’re going online to find the prices, the retail prices of hams, whole hams, center slices, ends and pieces - so they’re doing research on the Internet. Goal-setting.”
Chuck Denney
Settlers cured hams to survive. Of course, we have refrigeration today, but we still cure for the old-timey taste. 4-H leaders want kids to get a sense of history here. Curing hams is a Henry County tradition that goes back centuries. Ken Goddard is director of Extension’s Henry County office.
Ken Goddard
“Many of these kids that participate in the country ham curing contest have not experienced this before. Their great-grandfather and great-grandmother were the last people in the family that cured hams. It’s the oldest method of curing meats that we know of.”
Chuck Denney
Extension leaders hope this youth program becomes a fair tradition. Meantime, someone will soon be enjoying these 4-H efforts at their breakfast table – all because some patient kids got their first taste of the curing process.
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NOTE: Clifty Farms helped start this 4-H project in Henry County through gifts of money – and company leaders also offered advice to the kids about how to cure hams.
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