The tradition of eating ham at Christmas goes back centuries to pagan days when Norse and Germanic people celebrated the hunt and fertility by roasting a wild boar. Their Yuletide (a 12-day midwinter feast) celebrations – including wild boar on the table – eventually became part of the Christmas holiday. Ultimately, smoked and preserved ham became a more accessible and popular choice for the holiday dinner. Today we offer incredible Berkshire ham for the holidays, along with wild boar at dartagnan.com if you want to recreate the Yule table.
About Berkshire Pork
Berkshire pork, also known as Kurobuta, makes the best ham. That’s because this heritage breed hog has just the right amount of fat and richly flavorful, ruddy meat. Our farmers raise the hogs on pasture, with no antibiotics or hormones, using humane and sustainable methods.
With pork this good, we feel it’s important to make ham with natural ingredients and methods. Uncured, fully-cooked, and ready-to-eat, our ham is smoked over applewood without nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, or artificial fillers, and is seasoned simply with sea salt and raw cane sugar. This is the way ham is supposed to be.
Your Holiday Ham Choices
Our Berkshire Pork Bone-In Spiral Ham weighs 8-10 lbs and is easy to cook and serve. For this recipe, we glazed it with tart pomegranate molasses and a touch of warm spices before giving it a delectable brown sugar crust. Now that’s a festive holiday meal!
We also offer a version of the half ham that is not spiral cut. This has been a holiday favorite at dartagnan.com and makes a classic presentation. It can be simply glazed and carved at the table. Yet another option is the whole smoked ham which will feed 10-14 people.
Much smaller – and perfect for an intimate holiday meal – is our petite ham at only 2.5 – 3.5 lbs. Treat it like a larger ham and glaze it with one of our ham recipes.
Living for the Leftovers
Make a bigger ham than you will need for your holiday meal and enjoy the leftovers for days in many recipes. Chopped ham makes a tasty rice or pasta topping, pairs well with eggs, and elevates casseroles. The sandwich possibilities are endless, and we have 10 ideas for cooking with ham in our blog post.
Shop for your holiday ham at dartagnan.com and let us know how you like it.