Australia Celebrating its Locally Produced Hams

AUSTRALIA - Australia is celebrating an promoting its 100 per cent locally produced ham this week as part of Australian Ham Week (29 November-5 December).
calendar icon 1 December 2015
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Australian Pork Limited Marketing Manager, Mitch Edwards, said not all hams available are made from local pork.

“More than 56% of people are unaware that ham can be made using imported pork,” Mr Edwards said.

“Australian ham tastes great, is safe, quality assured and supports our local farmers.

Australian Ham Week raises awareness that not all hams are equal and helps people find home-grown ham in store.

“To ensure your ham is Australian, buy a bone-in ham or look for the pink PorkMark logo.”

While ham is a year-round favourite, this time of year a glazed ham takes pride of place in festive meals.

“It just isn’t Christmas without Australian ham and the best ham is made using Australian pork,” Mr Edwards said.

“While I enjoy the ham sliced straight from the bone, you’re bound to impress your friends and family if the Christmas centrepiece is a stunning glazed ham.”

As part of Ham Week, a number of restaurants are offering specially created dishes and butchers and retailers are offering taste testings.

The Australian Ham Awards are a central part of Ham Week celebrations, with judges assessing hams to find the best traditional bone-in, boneless and nationally available hams.

This year’s judges were Fleischmeister Horst Schurger, who has a Master’s degree in Butchering and Smallgoods from the Master College in Monchengladbach, Germany, and chefs, Simon Bestley and Paul McDonald. They assessed more than 140 entries for a range of criteria, including appearance, texture, aroma and taste.

The Best Australian Ham and Best Traditional Bone-In Ham titles were awarded to Sunshine Meats, Milperra, NSW.

The judges described it as a “ham-some ham” with an excellent appearance, perfect texture, excellent flavour balance and perfect aftertaste.

Andrew’s Choice from Laverton North, Victoria, took out the Best Boneless Ham title.

The judges named the IGA Bone In Leg Ham the Best Nationally Available Ham. The judges
said the ham had a nice shape, tender meat texture and a gentle aroma.

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