page_title: Jinhua ham
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Jinhua ham / Culture
caption_attribution_description: "Buddha jumps over the wall" soup
context_page_description: Jinhua ham is a type of dry-cured ham named after the city of Jinhua, where it is produced, in the Zhejiang province of eastern China. The ham is used in Chinese cuisines to flavour stewed and braised foods as well as for making the stocks and broths of many Chinese soups. The ham was awarded first prize in the 1915 Panama International Merchandise Exhibition. It is a well-known ham in China.
context_section_description: The earliest recorded mention of the Jinhua ham processing technique is during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD), and this method of dry ham production is reported by some to have been in turn transmitted to Europe by Marco Polo. The name Jinhua was bestowed by the first emperor of the southern Song dynasty.  It is highly regarded in Chinese cuisine, and may be eaten as part of a cold meat dish or used in producing soup stock, imparting its unique and umami flavour to any dish. Jinhua ham is an important ingredient in the dish Buddha jumps over the wall. The ham has been lauded in Chinese literature, and was prominently featured in the Qing dynasty novel Dream of the Red Chamber, when the cuisine of the nobility was being described.
  The ideal ham should have certain physical characteristics, such as a shiny and smooth yellow outside, a rounded shape in the style of a bamboo leaf, small joint and hoof, a thin and slender bone, an abundant layer of fat surrounding dark and red toned meat, a pronounced but not unpleasant odour, a fine textured meat with high levels of intramuscular fat, and a taste that is highly salty, umami, and sweet. The outside of the ham may have small amounts of mould, but this is considered normal and thought to contribute to the flavour of the ham.
caption: Jinhua ham is an ingredient in the dish Buddha Jumps Over the Wall (above)
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