Stuffed ham is a variety of

ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term '' ...

in which

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of '' Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.& ...

kale Kale (), also called leaf cabbage, belongs to a group of cabbage (''Brassica oleracea'') cultivars primarily grown for their Leaf vegetable, edible leaves; it has also been used as an ornamental plant. Its multiple different cultivars vary quite ...

onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classified ...

, spices and

seasoning Seasoning is the process of supplementing food via herbs, spices, and/or salts, intended to enhance a particular flavour. General meaning Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings". Salt may ...

s are chopped and mixed, then stuffed into deep slits slashed in a whole corned or smoked ham. The ham is covered with extra stuffing, wrapped in a cloth to hold everything together, and then boiled until the meat and greens are fully cooked. Stuffed ham is believed to have originated in

Southern Maryland Southern Maryland, also referred to as SoMD, is a geographical, cultural and historic region in Maryland composed of the state's southernmost counties on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. According to the state of Maryland, the region incl ...

, specifically in St. Mary's County, and remains popular in that region to this day. Often used as a Christmas ham, this preparation has been popular for at least 200 years. Typically the ham has a distinctively spicy flavor due to added seasoning. Recipes vary widely, since they are traditionally passed down from one family member to another.

Salmonella vector

In 1997, improperly prepared stuffed ham served at the Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic Church fund-raising dinner in Chaptico, Maryland was responsible for one of the largest multi-drug resistant

Salmonella ''Salmonella'' is a genus of bacillus (shape), rod-shaped, (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two known species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' ...

Heidelberg outbreaks in Maryland which sickened 750 people and caused two deaths. The

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is headquartered in Atlanta, ...

documented the incident in the journal ''

Emerging Infectious Diseases ''Emerging Infectious Diseases'' is a monthly open-access peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The journal is in the public domain and covers global instances of new and reemerging infectious ...

''.

Salmonella vector

See also

References

Further reading