BAROSSA Fine Foods won Australia’s best traditional bone-in ham for the third time in this year’s Australian PorkMark Awards.
The national awards recognise the best 100 per cent Australian hams.
Chefs Paul McDonald and Simon Bestley teamed up with Fleischmeister Horst Schurger, who has a master’s degree in butchering and smallgoods, to assess more than 140 entries to find the best traditional bone-in, boneless and nationally available hams.
The judges noted the Barossa Fine Foods ham was well balanced, with mild flavours and smoke, as well as excellent texture.
Barossa Fine Foods managing director Franz Knoll has been helping to make hams since he was only eight years old.
The Knoll family, with its German heritage, has been making smallgoods for four generations.
Mr Knoll said certain steps were taken to make their ham extra special.
“We make our own essences to add into the ham and flavour it that way,” he said. “Apart from that, it’s a matter of attention to detail, cooking it right and selecting the right pork.”
The ham is made using fresh pork sourced from Big River Pork or Primo.
Also setting the product apart is the fact is it only made three to four weeks before Christmas, rather than well ahead of the festive season.
Mr Knoll said he had received great consumer feedback on the ham, especially after the award win.
“I think people are celebrating ham more this year,” he said.
“I did some sampling at the market recently, and had a great response. It does make a difference when you can say you have the best ham in Australia. It gives people a reason to stop and taste.”
Australian Pork Limited marketing manager Mitch Edwards said bone-in Australian ham was the most popular festive meat and intrinsically linked to Christmas. Mr Edwards said while bone-in hams were guaranteed to be Australian, the same could not be said for all ham.
“Many people are still surprised to find that more than two-thirds of ham sold in Australia is made from imported pork,” he said.