Woodsmoked Ham
The master butchers at Gamekeepers use a unique three-stage low smoking process over Victorian Mountain Ash wood chips. Our hams are never tumbled which is the process widely used with commercially made ham.
We source purebred, pasture-raised Berkshire Pork which is the wagyu of the pork world. It is prized for its juiciness, flavour and tenderness. We only use 100% Australian female ethically bred and reared.
Gamekeepers only source Berkshire Pork from Raven’s Creek Farm. True free-range pasture-raised purebred Berkshire pigs are raised in the pristine region of Moriac (22km west from Geelong). They farm without cages or fixed sheds and the farm is completely chemical free.
We are really proud of our smoking process, all done in-house, the hams have a "3-smoke" process, which is incredibly gentle, short spurts of smoking, which allows the meat to take on the flavour and then rest, maintaining the supremely delicate texture and softness a ham should have. It's with this level of detail, that you can always taste the difference at Gamekeepers.
What's tumbling?
Tumbling enlarges the muscle fibre cross-section which increases water retention capacity allowing hams to gain in excess of 50% in weight when pumped with soy proteins, vegetable gums and water. Commercially made hams are often made up of different pieces of the animal. You know the ham we're talking about - it's perfectly round, it's a bit shiny and does not taste like ham should.
Gamekeepers hams are made from one pork leg with the start weight the same as the finish weight. We are so proud of the way we make our hams, along with the other handcrafted products that come out of our smokehouse. It's the old school way ham should taste.
Despite the rising cost of living, food and transport costs, we are making a pledge to you that the prices of our Free Range Berkshire Hams will remain consistent in 2022, with no price increase for this Christmas. It's our way of saying thank you for your love and support over the last couple of years.