Pig Provenance and Favorite Ham Recipes

By Libbie Summers, Senior Food Editor

Although Christopher Columbus had eight pigs on board his ships when he left Spain for the new world, it was Spanish conquistador and explorer Hernando de Soto whose 13 pigs became the breeding stock for America’s pork industry when he arrived on the west coast of Florida in 1539. By the time of de Soto’s death, three years later, his pig herd had grown to 700 heads, not including the ones his 1000 troops had consumed, those that ran away and became wild pigs (and the ancestors of today’s feral pigs or razorbacks) and those given to the Native Americans in an attempt to keep peace. 

Sir Walter Raleigh brought sows to Jamestown Colony in 1607. Partially wild pigs were so much a problem in the grain fields of the New York colonists that every owned pig 14 inches high had to have a ring in it’s nose to make digging uncomfortable. Interestingly, on the island of Manhattan, a long solid wall was constructed on the northern edge of the colony to help control roaming herds of pigs. That area is now what we know as Wall Street.

As the seventeenth century closed, the typical farmer owned four or five pigs, supplying salt pork and bacon for his table with surpluses sold as barreled pork. After the Revolutionary war, pioneers began heading west and with them, they took their indispensable pigs. As these western herds grew, the need for pork processing facilities became apparent. Packing plants began to spring up in major cities and pigs were first commercially slaughtered in Cincinnati.

Today, pork (including all processed meats such as bacon, prosciutto etc.) is one of the most widely consumed meats in the world.

Paula’s Favorite Ham Recipes:
Herb Crusted Fresh Ham
Fresh Ham
Christmas Ham
Cola Basted Ham
Aunt Peggy’s Orange Glazed Ham Steak
Peanut Butter Glazed Ham
Honey Mustard Glazed Ham

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