Kentucky-based Harper’s dominates 2015 National Country Ham Championship
Steeped in tradition, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has cultivated an enviable heritage that includes smooth, aged bourbons, spirited thoroughbreds, top-ranked college basketball and the finest cured, smoked and aged country ham.
Kentucky’s-own Harper’s Country Hams’ recent performance at the 2015 National Country Ham Association’s 23rd annual convention in Raleigh, North Carolina was unmatched among a group of elite competitors, earning Harper’s the “Grand Champion” position for both awarded categories-- smoked and unsmoked hams. The National Country Ham Association (NCHA), an affiliate of the American Association of Meat Processors, was organized in 1992 to represent the interest of country ham producers nationwide.
Harper’s hand-crafted hams also prevailed in a similar competition in 2013, capturing the top position among virtually the same challengers in a ranking by Boston-based Cook’s Country Magazine, as well as in a blind tasting by the cast and audience of America’s Test Kitchen, the most-watched cooking show on public television. Cooks Country characterized Harper’s ham as “…delicious and savory; bacony; rich and deeply-flavored; well-balanced and not overwhelmed by salt.”
“These industry honors are simply a manifestation of the love and dedication that goes into our craft and the commitment we maintain to our customers,” said Brian Harper, Executive Vice-President, a sentiment echoed by company President Dolores Harper. In 1952, when Americans Liked Ike and Loved Lucy, Brian’s grandfather, Curtis Harper, began curing and selling hams at his Western Kentucky farm. Today, experienced Cure Masters exercise their craft in Harper’s one hundred thousand square foot facility in Clinton, Kentucky that is adjacent to founder’s original World War II-era farmhouse. Harper’s Hams, bacon and sausage products are shipped worldwide and available in retail stores, restaurants and directly-to-consumers online (www.hamtastic.com).
Source: Harper’s Country Hams
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