Our Hams...
For centuries people salted hams and because of the mountain-climate (dry, low humidity, windy) people air dried hams into a mildly salted, cured, very tender specialty. Because these hams were loosing their natural meat-juice, people could keep these hams without refrigeration for many months. They gave these hams the name Prosciutto; and Italian Immigrants brought this name across the ocean.
The Germans made basically the same style of hams. But there was
one important exception; in Germany we have much higher humidity,
especially in northern Germany. The reasons are the close proximity
to the North-Sea
and the Baltic Sea.
But a long time ago people found a very good
solution. Because air drying was not possible (because of the high
humidity the hams
would spoil) people realized, that smoking hams would preserve
the meat and gave the added benefit of producing a unique taste
and flavor. In Germany
cured hams are named 'Schinken'. That's why we are using the original names forair dried hams - 'Prosciutto' and
smoked hams - 'Schinken'.
Our unique variety of cooked hams - this level you will find nowhere in America!