Damn, that's pretty ham. Drooling here. Looks like mine.
Do you gets your hams the same day the hogs are killed ( still warm as in kill your own ) or do you use ones from a commercial butcher?
I'm sorry, I didn't answer your question correctly. The hams we purchased were chilled when we got them and went straight into the salt box. We didn't kill our hog for another couple of weeks. The hog meat was put on top of a shed to cool out and get all the body heat out. Those hams were trimmed and cured by rubbing rather than being put in a salt box. We never start any cure effort until the meat is well cooled and all the body heat is gone. That's why we put them on top of the shed. Lucky if a good cold rain comes that night and washes it. You want it completely chilled but not frozen. I can remember years ago, the temps would drop and it get colder than we expected and have to go pull the meat off the roof for fear of it freezing.
