How ham was produced in the time of the ancient Romans

How ham was produced in the time of the ancient Romans

- Categories : Mamma Rosa's Notes

How ham was produced in Cisalpine Gaul

The first work, of which we know, which speaks of the methods of production of ham in Cisalpine Gaul, the current Po Valley, is the De agri cultura by Cato and dates back to 160 BC.

But this productive activity almost certainly started in the Bronze Age.

This is because in the Parma area, archaeologists studying the remains of the first Terramarian inhabited areas have found various heaps of pig bones in which the bones of the hind legs were missing.

This means that at the time men had already figured out how to process and preserve the meat of the hind limbs of pigs in the form of ham.

HAM IN DE AGRI CULTURA

Marco Porcio Cato (Tusculum, 234 BC - Rome, 149 BC) in his work explains in detail how ham was produced in his time.

The procedure consisted in salting the hams in an olla (a large terracotta container, editor's note) or in a barrel and required half a bushel of Roman salt for each ham.

First you need to cut the ham trotter.

After that, the bottom of the barrel was salted and a first ham was placed there with the rind facing downwards and then it was completely covered with salt.

At this point a second was added, making sure that the meat of the two hams did not come into contact with each other.

And they covered it all with salt.

This procedure was repeated for each ham that was added.

Once we got to the last of the hams, everything was completely covered with salt until the barrel was even.

In this way there was no danger of exposing the meat to the air.

The hams remained closed in the barrel for five days.

Then they were taken out with their salt.

Then the whole procedure was repeated being careful to put those that were previously on the bottom of the barrel.

After this second passage, the hams had to remain in the barrel for twelve days.

After which they were finally pulled out, cleaned of salt and exposed to the wind for two days.

On the third day they were cleaned thoroughly with a sponge and anointed with oil.

Then they were suspended for another two days, above the smoke.

Finally, on the third day, they were brushed with a mix of oil and vinegar and placed in the pantry.

This whole process was used to make the ham resistant to moths and worms.

But why was all this work done?

Because pork legs, at the time, had to be preserved in order to be cooked later.

Unlike today where ham is a product in itself to be sliced and then enjoyed, at the time hams were destined to become a roast.

A recipe for special occasions.

Small curiosity: you must know that the custom of salting hams in barrels continued until the 1700s.

CONCLUSION

I hope you enjoyed this short post of mine dedicated to the ham production technique at the time of the ancient Romans.

Looking forward to seeing you in the next post!

Ciao,

Mamma Rosa

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