Natural form

A whole bone-in cured ham showing its characteristic dark outer rind and rounded shape.

Shows readers the whole uncut form, rind color, and bone structure that identify a cured ham.

Proteins

Ham

Cured pork for sandwiches, boards, and folding into dishes

Salty-sweet and ready to eat, ham layers into sandwiches, drapes a board, and adds savor to a frittata or pasta. Keep it cold and tightly wrapped.

Ham is pork from the pig's hind leg, cured — and sometimes smoked, cooked, or air-dried — into one of the most varied preserved meats in the kitchen. The category splits two ways: cooked/wet-cured hams (the sliceable pink ham for sandwiches, the glazed bone-in centerpiece, gammon) and dry-cured raw hams (prosciutto, Serrano, jamón ibérico) that are aged for months to years and eaten in paper-thin, silky slices without cooking. Salt is the through-line — ham is salty, so it both seasons dishes and needs a light hand elsewhere. From a holiday glazed ham to prosciutto draped over melon, it spans everyday and luxury.

Measured in: g
Storage: Refrigerate
Shelf life: 7 days

Find it in

Deli

Types & varieties

Cooked sliced ham

Wet-cured, pink, ready to eat — sandwiches and salads.

Bone-in glazed ham

The holiday centerpiece; score and glaze, heat through.

Gammon

Raw cured leg (British); must be cooked, often boiled then roasted.

Jamón serrano (curado)

Spain’s everyday dry-cured ham; sliced thin, eaten uncooked.

Jamón ibérico

Premium dry-cured ham from ibérico pigs — de bellota (acorn-fed) tops the price ladder over cebo.

Jamón cocido / york

The cooked, mild sandwich ham (jamón de york).

Prosciutto

Italian dry-cured raw ham; sliced thin, eaten uncooked.

Smoked ham hock

For flavoring soups, beans, and stocks.

How to choose

Know whether your ham is fully cooked (ready to eat or just reheat) or raw-cured like gammon (must be cooked). For sandwiches, choose moist, pink cooked ham. For boards, seek well-aged dry-cured hams sliced paper-thin. A bone-in ham has more flavor for a centerpiece; a hock is for the soup pot.

How to store / food safety

Refrigerate cooked and sliced ham and use within about 3–5 days of opening; whole cured hams keep longer. Dry-cured hams are shelf-stable whole but best refrigerated once sliced. Heat pre-cooked ham to about 60°C if serving warm; cook raw gammon to 71°C. Ham is salty — soak very salty gammon or hocks if needed.

How to cook

For a glazed centerpiece, score the fat in a diamond pattern, stud with cloves, brush with a sweet-savory glaze (honey, mustard, brown sugar), and bake just to heat through and caramelize. Boil-then-roast gammon for moist results. Don't 'cook' dry-cured ham — its flavor lives in being served raw and thin. Use ham hocks and ends to deepen split-pea soup, beans, and stocks.

Common uses

Sandwiches and ploughman'sGlazed holiday hamProsciutto with melon and on boardsCroque monsieur and toastiesHam and pea soup (with the hock)Quiche, omelets, and carbonara-style dishesWrapped around asparagus or figsEggs Benedict

Tips & pitfalls

Score and glaze a bone-in ham, then bake just to heat and caramelize.
Soak very salty gammon or hocks before cooking to mellow them.
Don't cook prosciutto or jamón — serve it raw and paper-thin.
Use ham hocks and bones to flavor soups, beans, and stocks.
Season dishes lightly; ham brings plenty of salt.

Nutrition

263kcal

Energy

1100 kJ · per 100 g

Where the calories come from

Protein 25%Carbs 3%Fat 72%

Protein

16.3g

33% DV

Carbs

1.8g

1% DV

Fat

20.7g

27% DV

Fiber

0% DV

Sugars

of which

Sodium

1245mg

54% DV

Notable micronutrients

Thiamin (B1)59% DV

Vitamin B1240% DV

Selenium36% DV

Niacin (B3)26% DV

Zinc17% DV

Riboflavin (B2)15% DV

Source · USDA FoodData Central · Ham, minced

View on FDC →

In the shops

Matched grocery products

Ham Pâté
Hacendado · 160 g · Mercadona
€1.10
Cured Ham Portion
220 g · Mercadona
€3.85
Maxi York Ham
Hacendado · 2 kg · Mercadona
€5.95
Mangalica Ham
MONTE NEVADO · kg · Bonpreu
€6.75
Serrano Ham Incarlopsa
Incarlopsa · 7.5 kg · Mercadona
€65.00
Cured Ham Block
ESPUÑA · kg · Bonpreu
€3.85

Good to know

Cut/type: Cured pork leg; cooked/wet-cured or dry-cured raw
Flavor: Salty, savory; sweet-glazed or nutty-aged
Cook to: Pre-cooked: heat to 60°C; raw gammon: 71°C
Nutrition: Lean ~145 kcal/100g, ~21g protein, ~6g fat; regular cured ham ~165–200 kcal, ~9–12g fat
Buy: Pink moist cooked ham; well-aged dry-cured for boards

Substitutes