With the holidays just around the corner, University of Idaho’s Vandal Brand Meats is preparing for festivities with its annual Christmas Ham Sale.
For the 40th year, UI Livestock, Meats Judging teams and the Block and Bridle Club have come together to sell, cure and smoke local ham.
Ron Richard, meat lab manager, said the curing process has taken place since he was an undergraduate. He also said Christmas ham funds support student travel and club projects.
“It depends on how much time they put in and processing of them,” Richard said. “(Funds range) anywhere from 30 to 60 percent.”
Last year, student employees and meat science lab students went to Las Vegas as part of the National Meats Association conference. Katie Robertson, animal science major, attended the conference and said the Christmas Ham Sale was a large contributor toward paying for travel and product development for the conference. The ham sale may also help students attend the Northwest Meat Processor Association Annual Meeting in March 2012.
This year Robertson assisted in curing, smoking and packaging all the hams. She said student employees do a little bit of everything.
Richard said the hams are cured with a salt and sugar mix and put into brine that composes 10 percent of the weight. It is then cooked back out during the cooking process, in which no water is added. He said the hams cure for seven to 10 days, prior to the smoking process.
“It’s a really great system,” Robertson said. “We get to experience helping make the hams and then we also get to do product development and attend conferences in the meat industry.”
Although the hams are made year-round, Richard said there is a big push during December.
“We do 200 to 250 (hams) normally,” Richard said.
He said approximately 150 hams are sold to previous customers while the rest are sold by student groups.
Bone-in ham, averaging 14 to 17 pounds is $2.49 per pound, while semi-boneless, averaging 13 to 15 pounds is $2.89. Completely boneless ham, averaging 8 to 12 pounds is $3.39 per pound.
Christmas hams must be ordered by Dec. 7 for pickup on Dec. 15 to 23. Order forms are available at Vandal Brand Meats on West Sixth Street.