I have always known that there is nothing quite like a Smithfield Ham, but I must admit that I did not know exactly why or how Smithfield Hams were different from other pork products on the market. Let me share the secrets that I discovered this week in Smithfield…Neither did I know that peanuts were grown in Virginia. But they are and they play a critical role in making the Smithfield pork products unique with both quality and taste. In fact so much so that in 1926 a statue was passed by the Virginia General Assembly that regulates the usage of the term “Smithfield Ham” by stating:
Genuine Smithfield hams [are those] cut from the carcasses of peanut-fed hogs, raised in the peanut-belt of the Commonwealth of Virginia or the State of North Carolina, and which are cured, treated, smoked, and processed in the town of Smithfield, in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
(Fine print: The peanut feed stipulation was removed in 1966)
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