Tassie hams pass taste test with flying colours

IT is a crucial ingredient for many Christmas lunches and now some of Tasmania’s best hams have been identified.

Hams from Tasmanian butchers have been awarded prizes in the state category of the Australian PorkMark Ham competition.

This year competition judges Fleischmeister, Horst Schurger, and chefs, Simon Bestley and Darren Smith, assessed 155 hams from across the country, judging their appearance, taste and aroma.

In the boneless ham category it was Sharman’s Butchery at Wivenhoe which took out first place, with Perry’s Quality Meats at Smithton second, and Tasmanian Meat Wholesalers in Hobart third.

The judges described the Sharman’s Butchery boneless ham as a good colour, nice and tender, with a good flavour and aftertaste.

In the traditional bone-in category it was Perry’s Quality Meats at Smithton which took top honours with a ham judges described as having a nice shape and even colouring, great texture and tenderness, nice taste and balance.

Second place went to Sharman’s Butchery and Wursthaus Pty Ltd at Cambridge was third.

Sharman’s Butchery coowner Brock White said the key to good ham is top quality pork.

“We use pasture-run pork from Scottsdale in our products and that gives us some really good consistent pork to work with,” he said.

Mr White said every butchery had its own technique for producing hams.

‘Once you have the right pork, from there it just comes down to the ham making process,” he said.

Mr White said improvements in food labelling meant consumers were now better informed about where their ham came from.