The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-10-18
A TALK ABOUT HAMS.
THE PROCESS OF CURING En-
planned.
The CompIaintsF From Bousekeepers
About The Quality of the Article
In This Narket-the heaSoh
ThetefOr-wh the Pack
ers Say AbOutl IL.

classes. rich and poor alike, Is mans. Inc
best sugar cured ones are greatly IN de-
mand, but of late years the best have
been exceedingly hard to find. The res
son why may perhaps be shown oy the
information obtained by reporters snd
given below:
For a long time past there has been
much complaint among housekeepers
about the difficulty Of obtaining, IN this
market, proper quality OF sugar cured
hams. AS il IS an article entering large
~ in household economy, and may also
be considered among mary luxury, the
fact has been source Of ryance. The
reason has not been clearly understood.
A pork packer goes to Chicago with h
car cleaned Tor the purpose, buys lot OF
hams freshly cut, and salts them as they
are placed IN the car. When they reach
here they are unloaded, again packed In
salt, and al the end Of week or nine
DAYS are removed Loa vat and covered
with pickle made Of salt, saltpetre and
white sugar syrup They remain IN this
for a couple OF weeks, are taken cut,
washed with warm water ard again
placed in pickle. This process OF curing
lasts about fry days, and the bans are
then hung III the smoke house and
smoked over fire of hickory wood,
which, when burning too brlskIy, IS
smothered by tsnbark
For thousand pounds OF hams the
pickle contains three pounds OF saltpetre
and two gallons of syrup, with the re-
baip,r tho hest
Liverpool salt. This pickle Is the only
one used by the chef packers OF tins city,
both because it Is claimed 20 be the
cheapest and best, as long experience
shows. A pickle containing other IN
gradients is used by some large houses In
other cities, just what the ingredients
are is known only 10 those who use II, the
process with this being kept secret 1t
Is possible, that these are chemicals
which wrongly affect the flavor OF the
meat. 1t is possible, also, Tor the flavor
to be affected wrongly by the pickle sand
to be used by the local packers. Con
yersing with druggist on this matter
the reporter was told that gentleman
who made especlslty OF corning beef,
and whose beet is shipped to Liverpool
in large quantities built up his trade on
the quantity of saltpetre be used. The
druggist always sold him saltpetre worth
fifteen cents pound, whereas he sold 10
others but chess, Ill article costing only
from four to seven cents. THIS latter ar
tlcle is, properly speaking, not saitpetre
~ all, but merely nitrate OF soda instead
of nitrate OF potash. a good pickle can
cot be made of this, but being only one
halt AS costly as the other, it Is probably
largely used by packers who have no
business reputation to sustain. The head
OF one OF the leading pork-packlng
houses of the city said that he used crude
s4llpetre entirely, and imported 1t direct
from the English makers. He preferred
the crude, because 1t Is difficult ~ ma
refined saltpetre that has not been adul-
t,rated Il the taste OF hams Is spoiled
by the pickle here described, it.must be
owing either TO the use of inferior salt
petre or too much of the GOOD, which
makes the meat bitter and dry. The
drvnesS of the ham, sometimes complain
Ell of, may be owing to another cause
Cut in the old style, or AS farmers, sun
cut them, the hams NJ the top ran out
wedgc-shaped AMI Vt the side retained
part of its flank. These parts were al
ways so lmpregnated with salt that they
c1uld not be used, and were sheer loss TO
tn. consumer, and 10 save this the hams
are now trimmed close and AT the top
cut almost straight across. The conse
Quence OF cutting the part across the top
IN this Way Is that the juices OF the ham
escape through TO the uncovered surface.
Saltpetre is by some rubbed on the hams
dry, the object being to give them n rich
color, but the amount absorbed in that
way could not injure either the juiciness
or the taste OF the piece.
The citizen who must have his ham
and eggs in winter should instruct his
grocer to buy from only the most re-
sponsible packing houses, aud II be still
cannot get what he wants, he should re-
heve himself with u grin, and with AS
surance that in things other than sugar
cured hams the country falls tar short OF
perfection. a packer who wants to
make n fortune mas only To establish
ms reputation by throwing open his es-
tablishment to the public gaze, and let
public inspection satisfy purchasers as to
the honesty OF hi process.