# How long is a ham good for?



## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

Past expiration?? I found one in the back of my basement fridge dated December 9. Uncured meats are easy to tell...I go by smell...not date...but what about a cured ham? Im wondering if I should use it or chuck it.
Posted in SEP because folks here deal with long term food storage, and I thought maybe I would get some real answers. If TEOTWAWKI happened, or we were starving, Id at least give it a try if it smelled ok. We are not in that situation, but I hate to waste food. Any thoughts?


----------



## Becka03 (Mar 29, 2009)

I have frozen ham close to the expiration date- believe me you will NOT make the mistake of eating it if it goes bad- that happened to DH and I once- WOW- it was middle of winter we had to run for the sliding glass door! and DH was yelling OMG OMG- it was a terrible terrible smell! 
I had never had that happen before with ham - 
I would maybe open it- smell it- then rewrap in freezer bags if you have them use the foodsaver type? at least that is what I would do


----------



## farmerj (Aug 20, 2011)

After looking at my pastrami, I would never claim preserved meats last forever.


----------



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I'd eat it no problem.. You said it's only a month past, and it's been frozen the whole time correct? It should be just fine.. Those dates are usually more of a best by... not a throw it out at date... 

I eat eggs weeks past the expiration... never a problem so long as they've been in the fridge..

EDIT: I see now you say it was in the fridge... yeah, I'd be careful... but you'll know after you cut it open..


----------



## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I've had one in the fridge ,it was dated March(1013). I cut it up for the dogs last week, there was nothing wrong with it. Was nice and pink ,no smell whats so ever. I would have eaten it, but know dh would have not, so I didn't even bother. I had to get around to it because he brought home a Dearborn spiral.


----------



## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

Swan-the dogs didnt throw or or get diarrhea or anything?
everyone else...it was in the extra fridge...not frozen


----------



## SteveD(TX) (May 14, 2002)

7thswan said:


> I've had one in the fridge ,it was dated March(1013). I cut it up for the dogs last week, there was nothing wrong with it. Was nice and pink ,no smell whats so ever. I would have eaten it, but know dh would have not, so I didn't even bother. I had to get around to it because he brought home a Dearborn spiral.


Sorry, but I wouldn't even give a thousand year old ham to the dogs.


----------



## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

It should be fine, you'll smell it and taste it if its bad.

But just in case, before you sit down for a meal write a note: "It was the ham" :whistlin:


----------



## Wanda (Dec 19, 2002)

We cured hams and hung them in the smokehouse with no refrigeration. Some would be 6 months old before they were used . Cured is the key word as far as spoilage goes. As far as the OP the date stamped on the ham is a sell by date and has nothing much to do with how long it will be edible with proper refrigeration.


----------



## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

beaglebiz said:


> Swan-the dogs didnt throw or or get diarrhea or anything?
> everyone else...it was in the extra fridge...not frozen


Nope, I cut it into tiny pieces and froze part of it. It smelled perfectly fine and had a normal texture.Lots of meats when past the good stage get slimey. Even then sometimes the slime can be washed off/cut off and the left over still used. Trust your nose.


----------



## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

I am putting it in the oven now...I think I will make a batch of American pierogi to go with it  
I will let you know how it turns out


----------



## WV Farm girl (Nov 26, 2011)

Just something to keep in mind: if feeding ham to pets make sure lots of water is available free choice. It usually makes them drink more.


----------



## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Yes, I keep free choice water. I make my dogs food from what I grow/harvest. This is chard/kale frozen,carrots,squash,pumpkin,beans,peas ,ect. the only thing I haven't grown is rice,so I buy it bulk. My dogs get fed as well as we do. This particular pic, I used venison, not all of it mind you,most I canned for human use..


----------



## Patchouli (Aug 3, 2011)

I do homemade food for our dogs too, that looks good!

Ham smells bad when it goes bad but it lasts a good bit past it's date, much longer than fresh meat.


----------



## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

It'll get slimey and have a metallic green to silver maybe scaley look before it starts to smell super bad. But I have been known to just fry it up real hot and crispy if it's getting a little slimey and shiney. That's usually store sliced ham. A ham in vacuum packed bag should be fine after it's date.


----------



## stamphappy (Jul 29, 2010)

I had a vacuum-packed smoked turkey breast in the back of the 'frig...it was dated best by 7/2013. I opened it 2 weeks ago and it smelled fine. We ate it all in 3 or 4 days and no ill effects.


----------



## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Yup, mine was in a vacuum pack. I just learned about cooking bones down to mush, so that is next for the dogs. It's good for people too, from what the poster said.


----------



## Sawmill Jim (Dec 5, 2008)

Here they use to let hams hang in the smoke house for two years or longer . The two year old hams are the best .:shrug::icecream:


----------



## Wanda (Dec 19, 2002)

Sawmill Jim said:


> Here they use to let hams hang in the smoke house for two years or longer . The two year old hams are the best .:shrug::icecream:



A good dry cured ham is just like good cheese , it ages and gets better instead of getting ''old''. Most folks would have a hard time figuring out how to use a good country ham. Now we cure and smoke for the flavor not the intense cure for preservation.


----------



## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

Sawmill Jim said:


> Here they use to let hams hang in the smoke house for two years or longer . The two year old hams are the best .:shrug::icecream:


Absolutely right,a properly cured country ham will last a long time.It will eventually get hard and tough,but even then it will flavor a pot of home made veg soup, or a pot of collard greens that will taste mighty fine.If its cured right, none should ever go to waste.This day and time what they call cured country ham,a lot is already spoiled before it leaves the super market.If you don't cure your own,buy from a reputable butcher who knows bad ham when he slices it.

*Wanda..(Now we cure and smoke for the flavor not the intense cure for preservation.)
* You Nailed It.


----------



## cfuhrer (Jun 11, 2013)

We're still munching on a black forest ham I cooked at Christmas.


----------



## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

Just thought Id update...the ham was fantastic...I glazed it with brown sugar and some home canned pears 
Thanks for the advice...we now have enough left over for sandwiches and omelets for a couple days, and I am starting up a pot of pea soup this morning


----------



## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

A couple of days ago, I spotted several pre-cooked, spiral-cut, foil wrapped small hams at our Safeway, marked down (maybe even a day or two past "use or freeze-by" dates) to 69c/lb. Originally $6 a lb. $48 ham for $5.50. Bought two of them, they're wonderful, but I will be using our FoodSaver to vacuum pack and freeze most of their meat, everything we can't consume in a week or ten days or so. Once sealed and frozen like that, my guess is they'll be OK surely for upwards of 2 years, maybe more soup/stew meat towards the end of that span or past it.

I clearly recall a couple of Andrew Zimmern's "Bizarre Foods" episodes on Travel Channel in which ethnic delicacies he sampled could only be called gag reflex-activating for Anglo sensibilities. One was the big honker shark carcasses Icelanders hang up in isolated barns to putrify (they weren't smoked as best I recall, nor frozen, but rather cool, anyway) for something like 6 months before being sliced and eaten. Something involving that detoxifying the uric acid the meat is saturated with otherwise.... Then Inuit folks had some sort of whale or seal blubber they'd bury (again not frozen) for some months, then dig up and eat. Oh, and the Ecuadorian(?) dessert cheese that under magnification was outright moving from the tiny fly larvae that had been allowed deliberately to colonize it...


----------



## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

DryHeat said:


> A couple of days ago, I spotted several pre-cooked, spiral-cut, foil wrapped small hams at our Safeway, marked down (maybe even a day or two past "use or freeze-by" dates) to 69c/lb. Originally $6 a lb. $48 ham for $5.50. Bought two of them, they're wonderful, but I will be using our FoodSaver to vacuum pack and freeze most of their meat, everything we can't consume in a week or ten days or so. Once sealed and frozen like that, my guess is they'll be OK surely for upwards of 2 years, maybe more soup/stew meat towards the end of that span or past it.
> 
> I clearly recall a couple of Andrew Zimmern's "Bizarre Foods" episodes on Travel Channel in which ethnic delicacies he sampled could only be called gag reflex-activating for Anglo sensibilities. One was the big honker shark carcasses Icelanders hang up in isolated barns to putrify (they weren't smoked as best I recall, nor frozen, but rather cool, anyway) for something like 6 months before being sliced and eaten. Something involving that detoxifying the uric acid the meat is saturated with otherwise.... Then Inuit folks had some sort of whale or seal blubber they'd bury (again not frozen) for some months, then dig up and eat. Oh, and the Ecuadorian(?) dessert cheese that under magnification was outright moving from the tiny fly larvae that had been allowed deliberately to colonize it...


That was on just the other day, when he said maggots-I turned it off. Did you notice the little upsidedown umbrella things they stick into hanging hams where the bone is on the bottem, to catch drips. I woundered what is dripping, the meat or the bone marrow.


----------



## Wanda (Dec 19, 2002)

If you have a dripping ham it is moisture coming out of the meat. You need to be careful when you dry cure to make sure the whole ham including the ends has enough cure mixture and takes it into the ham. If there is any spoilage it will be around the bone.


----------



## Farmer Willy (Aug 7, 2005)

I have learned the answer to this one: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIOKCcTkbUM[/ame]


----------



## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

This old fellow said he just cut a seven year old ham and it was very good.He made me hungry talking about that red eye gravy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6UkXhHUTfM


----------

