Differences in Ham Consumption Practices

Why can European ham be eaten raw,

while Chinese ham cannot?

The Jinhua ham you buy from the supermarket

plainly says on the packaging, “Cook before eating.”

Yet Spanish Iberian ham

is arranged in thin slices on a plate

and can be put straight into your mouth.

Many people think it’s because Europeans have more advanced

technology, or because European

ham standards are higher. But think about it,

is it really that simple?

Let me tell you, the truth is actually the

opposite. It’s not that Chinese ham

can’t be eaten raw, it’s that raw edible Chinese

ham is something you never get the chance to see.

Jinhua ham and Xuanwei ham,

made using traditional Chinese methods,

were originally fit to be eaten raw.

There is a Qing Dynasty cookbook called Tiaoding Ji,

which describes Jinhua ham as having bones that are

raw-cut like fat, with a texture moist as jade, melting in the mouth

and a fragrance that fills the nostrils.

Just take in that description.

How could this be intended for soup?

It was meant to be sliced and eaten directly.

So here’s the question:

Why does supermarket ham now insist that

you cook it? Put simply, it’s a gap in standards.

European ham has a mandatory set of raw-consumption standards.

Take Iberian ham, for example.

From the breed of pig and the feed it is given,

to when it is fattened and how many months it is

air-dried and aged, temperature and humidity are monitored throughout.

Even the molds are artificially inoculated,

and before shipping, slices must be tested for

parasites and pathogenic bacteria.

The entire process exists to ensure that this slice of meat

can safely enter your mouth raw.

And Chinese ham?

It has long been classified as a Chinese-style meat product.

National standards only allow it to be eaten after steaming or cooking,

which means the law simply does not recognize

that it can be eaten raw. Since those rules exist,

manufacturers naturally won’t build sterile facilities,

or conduct parasite inactivation testing.

After all, you have to cook it once you buy it,

so why should I bother with all that?

But consider Nuodeng ham from Yunnan.

It is cured with local well salt, air-dried, then

smoked with sugarcane bagasse and cold-aged

for more than half a year. This kind of ham can be

sliced and eaten raw.

But this method is costly

and takes a long time, so it never became mainstream.

That’s because Chinese consumers are more accustomed to eating ham

cooked, believing it tastes more

flavorful and is safer. Behind this are actually two

completely different paths.

European ham follows a fermentation-and-aging route,

using very little salt and curing for as long as one

to four years. The salt merely dehydrates and slightly

inhibits bacteria, without killing all microorganisms.

Instead, beneficial microbial communities are deliberately retained,

allowing them to slowly grow in a low-temperature, high-humidity environment

Slow fermentation breaks down

the proteins and fats in the meat. This process is like giving the meat

enzymes, ultimately making it tender and juicy.

Harmful bacteria are completely suppressed by the acidic environment

produced by fermentation and the low water activity,

meeting standards for raw consumption.

Chinese ham follows a high-salt preservation method,

using extremely large amounts of salt, with curing times of only

one to three months. High salt rapidly dehydrates it,

strongly inhibiting bacteria. The salt concentration exceeds ten

percent, so most bacteria

die directly from dehydration. The advantage of this aggressive preservation

is long-term storage, while the disadvantage is that high salt

also inhibits beneficial fermentation,

preventing proteins from breaking down into amino acids,

and keeping the meat firm.

Also, because the curing time is short,

there is more salt on the surface and less inside,

making salt-tolerant bacteria more likely to remain.

Moreover, nitrates are added to achieve the desired color,

and although they add color and preserve the meat, nitrates in the body

are converted into nitrites,

and excessive consumption carries a cancer risk,

so they must be broken down through high-temperature cooking.

Beyond the legal aspect,

there is actually a deeper root

in the pigs themselves. Traditional Xuanwei ham requires

pathogen-free pigs raised free-range on plateaus,

where the parasite risk is extremely low.

But now, many producers have switched to

fast-grown white pigs. White pigs get little exercise,

have coarse fat, and may also be fed kitchen-waste feed,

sharply increasing the parasite risk.

So even if you dare to eat this kind of ham raw,

no one would dare give it the green light.

As for Europe,

medieval nobles considered raw meat purer,

and to display their status,

they ate undercooked meat,

while commoners feared parasites,

so they ate only cooked meat.

Over time, Europe developed a tradition of low-temperature aging

techniques. Ancient China was an agricultural

society with a dense population,

where meat was difficult to preserve and easily became infested,

so to avoid getting sick,

people developed the habit of thoroughly cooking meat before eating it.

Chinese ham was cured and air-dried in the first place

for long-term storage,

not for raw consumption. So you see,

culinary differences have never been about who is

superior, but rather the result of environmental conditions.

European mountain winters are cold,

allowing air-drying at low temperatures of zero to five degrees,

while winters in southern China range from eight to

fifteen degrees, requiring preservation with heavy salting,

so the final product is naturally too salty.

If you age Chinese ham with low salt according to the European

method,

it can also be eaten raw.

If you cure European ham

with high salt according to the Chinese method,

it too can only be eaten cooked.

In the end, it is not about whether it can be done,

but whether people are willing to do it.

After all, the charm of cuisine lies in adapting to local

conditions, with each having its own strengths.