On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 03:50:06 GMT, "Kent H." >
wrote:

>Smithfield county hams, by law, have to made in a certain way, and
>nothing in that code would allow a "low sodium" ham. You have to dry
>salt the ham, and age it until it ends up as a Smithfield Ham. Some
>sneaky little bugger outside the county line injected your "low sodium"
>ham with a bit of brine, and then proceeded to make it like a Smithfield
>by dry curing it following. A true Smithfield ham is very hard to
>desalt, as Julia Child says in many of her writings.
>Kent

I am not sure if it is the cure that is all important, but the area in
which the hams were made. I think they have to be cured in the
Smithfield area: I seem to remember a certain radius which was the
defining line. And the hogs had to have a certain diet, which was
characteristic of the the area.

I could be totally wrong on this, but somehow this rings a bell in me,
about the definitions of what goes into being a Smithfield ham. The
cure could be a part of it too, but I don't remember that.

Christine