Advice on cutting and preserving our ham

Ham on the bone must be preserved in a dry and dark room at a temperature of 15 - 16°C. A special support (vice) is recommended to hold the ham for slicing by hand. A very sharp knife with a long, narrow blade should be used for slicing; the rind and protective paste coating must be removed as slicing continues; once the bone is reached, the ham must be turned on the opposite side to start slicing the other flank. After slicing, the lean meat left exposed must be covered with food-protecting plastic film or aluminium foil.

Whole ham off the bone or ham pieces must be preserved in a cool place or in a refrigerator (between +5 and + 10°C).
The whitish film that sometimes can be seen on the lean part of the ham is only the result of a normal oxidation process occurring when the meat comes into contact with the light.
After taking the ham out of its vacuum pack, the vacuum pack should be discarded and the surface left exposed after slicing should be covered with food-protecting plastic film.
The rind must be trimmed only on the part to be cut.
The best result is obtained placing the ham in the slicing machine with the fat part upwards.

Machine-slicing of whole boned hams starts from the so-called "fiocco", i.e. the flank out of which the bones have been removed. This can be easily recognised by the presence of a plastic staple seam (1). After cutting about 1 kg ham, slicing starts again from the tip (2) and continues lengthwise until the end of the ham, always removing the rind from the part to be sliced.

Slicing of boned ham halves and quarters starts from the front and continues till the opposite end.

Half ham	Shin piece	Tip piece

Some small white granules can sometimes be noticed in the lean meat: they are not salt, but simply "thyroxine", a natural substance that forms during curing and generally appears in the most delicate hams with the longest curing periods.