Ham
by Diana Cercone
Of all the holidays, Christmas comes wrapped in the most traditions. From the Yule Log to the Christmas tree and from caroling to hanging stockings above the fireplace. Then there are the traditional Christmas foods: eggnog, gingerbread cookies and plum pudding, perhaps a stuffed pheasant or goose. But through the centuries a favorite at the Christmas table remains the holiday ham.
The tradition of the holiday ham can be traced to the Germanic peoples as a tribute to the pagan god Freyr, who was associated with boars, harvest and fertility. Some historians and folklorists believe the dish began on the Isle of Britain by the Anglo-Saxons. Then there’s the Norse tradition of a boar’s head with an apple in its mouth being carried into the banquet hall on a gold or silver platter to the sounds of trumpets and minstrels to please Freyr.
As Christianity replaced pagan rituals, especially in Scandinavia and England, St Stephen, whose feast day is Dec. 26, inherited some of the rituals, including the serving of a boar’s head. Though we no longer bring to the holiday table a smiling boar’s head, our love of ham has not diminished. Indeed, in its place are boneless, semi-boneless and spiraled sliced hams.
In Bucks County, a popular market to get your holiday ham is Ely Farm Products on Woodhill Road in Newtown. Heck, 7th-generation farmer Dwight Ely has won so many awards for his hams that he was inducted into the American Association of Meat Processors Cured Meats Hall of Fame in 2015. This he tells me as we sit in his market/meat processing plant on his farm in late fall. It’s one of the prettiest stretches of farm land this side of heaven. Not surprising, Dwight, though a very successful farmer, peppers our interview with giving praise to his Lord for “all his and his family’s blessings.”
“It’s work,” he says, “that is—thank the Lord—very important to us.”
That work started while on a wrestling full-scholarship at the University of Tennessee, he says. “My dad was a dairy farmer, as was his dad and grandfather before him. He knew I loved the farm.” Dwight’s dad told him to go to the university and figure out what kind of farmer he wanted to be. While there he met Dr. Gordon Davis visiting from Texas A&M who was looking to build a new meat judging team in Knoxville. Dwight signed on and before long became so proficient he finished second in national meat judging and first in yield grading. So impressed with young Dwight was Dr. Davis, he took him to top meat plants and encouraged him to help manage the university’s meat lab. Not long after, Dwight switched his major to animal and meat science.
After graduating Dwight went back home and told his dad of his plans to convert the farm into “a niche market from farrow-to-finish hog operation.” He started with a $20,000 loan from an uncle and catered to butchering for local farmers. Six years later, he had earned the seal of approval from the USDA. Easing out of the custom trade for farmers, he concentrated on his pork operation and opened up the market to more of the community.
“Where we’re sitting,” he says, “was a cow pasture. I built the butchering center, smokehouse and market over top.” He added an apartment above for his wife, Susan, and him, and where they lived until moving years later into the family farmhouse on the 30-acre property. (Dwight farms about another 500 acres from local farm owners. He makes his own feed and grows his own corn.)
The stainless smokehouse, actually two, a large one that holds a hefty 100 hams and a smaller one to accommodate another 50, are his babies. “They’re the state-of-the-art smokehouses,” he says. “They’re made in Germany by Kerres. The best in the world.” Ely’s hams are brown-sugar and salt cured and hickory smoked, he says, pulling out a drawer in the large smokehouse to show me the hickory chips. (Their aroma alone gets my taste buds working overtime.)
Most industrial meat processing plants smoke their hams quickly, he says. “Here we take our time and smoke our hams for at least twenty-four hours. More, depending on the size.” Timing is important, he says. It takes time to cure the meat—at least a whole week. And then time in the smoker, he says, where he and his staff monitor everything down to the right amount of moisture in the wood chips.
Helping Dwight is his son Aldan. Like his father, Aldan, now 24, loves the farm. At night he takes marketing and business classes at Bucks County Community College. “Aldan’s my right-hand man on the farm,” Dwight says with more than a tinge of fatherly pride in his voice. Daughter Elizabeth, 22, though possessing a nursing degree, chose to come back on the farm, he says, and is indispensable at running the market. “My youngest, Luke, 21, is at Liberty College and studying marketing and business. Hopefully, he’ll also join his brother and sister,” he says. “They’ll be the eighth-generation of Elys.” Another blessing, he says. (You can tell he couldn’t be prouder of them—or more grateful.)
During the holiday season, Ely’s will sell 1,000 hams. As we walk over to his meat counter, he tells me their most popular ham is the boneless. “We sell boneless to semi-boneless hams ten-to-one. People like the convenience for carving. Although our semi-boneless is easy to carve as well.” Pulling a semi-boneless from the meat case, he demonstrates how best to carve it. “Cut it in half,” he says, “and lay it down flat on the cutting board to slice. You’ll get beautiful slices, plus you’ll still have some meat left on the bone to use in a soup.
“As a small local butcher, a lot of our job is educating our customers on how to prepare our products. We’re always giving out tips and recipes.” For example, he says, even though all of his hams are fully cooked and only need heating, the best way to do so is to place the ham in a baking dish after removing any netting (if there is one) and bake in a 325°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes per pound. Simple, right?
For a more gourmet hands-on touch, he says, you can add 1/2 inch of ginger ale to the bottom of the pan or make a glaze of brown sugar and pineapple juice.
“To put food on the table for the community from our farm,” he says, “I can’t think of a greater blessing.”
Ely Farm Products is located at 401 Woodhill Road in Newtown; elyfarmproducts.com; 215-860-0669. Open Thurs. and Fri. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sat. 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Diana Cercone is an area freelance writer who specializes in food, art and travel.
