6 BULLETIN $28, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
EXPERIMENTS AT ESTABLISHMENTS A, B, AND C. 
PLAN OF WORK. 
Six tierces of hams were cured at establishment A and five each at 
establishments B and C. The chilled hams were first. pumped in 
the bédy and shank with 100° brine containing sodium nitrate and 
were then packed in tierces, which were finally filled with pickle. 
At each establishment the pickles for the several tierces were made 
up according to the same formula except as regards the kind of 
sugar used. It may be noted here that raw cane sugar was being 
used regularly at the time in curing this class of hams at establish- 
ments A and C and refiners’ sirup at establishment B. At establish- 
ments A and B the tierces of hams were stored at a temperature 
approximately 36°-87° F., and at establishment C they were stored 
at a temperature of 40° F. The tierces were rolled on the fifth, 
fifteenth, and thirtieth days after packing. 
At establishment A the cured hams were soaked 22 hours in water 
at 70° F. and were smoked 30 hours at a temperature approximating 
130°-135° F. At establishment B the cured hams were soaked 2 
hours and 20 minutes in water at 70° F’. and were smoked 18 hours 
at 100° F. At establishment C the cured hams were soaked 3 hours 
in water 60° I’. and were smoked 16 hours at 125° F. 
_ Each lot of smoked hams was carefully inspected for soundness by 
a Government inspector. Two sound smoked hams were selected 
from each lot at each establishment for test purposes, except from 
one tierce at establishment B, which had been mislaid. 
A record of the experiments is given in Table 4. 
TABLE 4.—Record of ham-curing experiments at establishments A, B, and C. 
ESTABLISHMENT A. 
Tierce 1, Tierce 4, | m; : 
ions granu- | Tierce2,| Tierce3,| 70per melee ADEE 6, 
; lated |dextrose.| cerelose. |cent corn 7 Sa 
sugar. sugar. es Sah 
Numberiofihamsptaes = eeeee rere ae 32 31 31 32 31 31 
Curing period «2525 eo eee reese. days. . 54 54 54 54 54 54 
Weight of green hams......-..-.-- pounds. - 300 | 300 300 300 300 300 
Weight of cured hams. -......--.---- do.... 327 328 328 324 320 329 
Gainan weight. $224. 0.cbe eee se do.23- 27 28 28 24 20 29 
Quantitysofpickles-. esos. gallons. = 13 14.5 16 16. 75 17 iS 
Condition of smoked hams......-....-.-.-- Normal. | Normal. | llight | Normal. | Normal. | 1 shank 
shank sour. 
| sour. 
ESTABLISHMENT B. 
INUmber ofhams# 53552 Stee: oes se 28 28 28 28 28 2\ ele ee 
Curing period! "2". 22 - eee seee days. 45 45 45 45 45H. as see 
Weight of green hams......------ pounds. 290 _ 290 290 290 200 le cPerace 
Weight of cured hams. ............. doses 322 qerce 318 B22 [i Se etS22 ee 
ost. 
Gain in weight. .....-. gccrscteeeeees dat_— Ba esassaee « 28 32 32 Cee seebee 
Quantity oljpickless-see ee gallons. . 18 18 164 16} 1S $ (os eer cee. 
Condition of'smoked hams ieenes nese eee [eNormalli:|sa228 2 ee Normal. | llight | Normal. |-2<....... 
shank | 
a, 
