I just wanted to firstly say, great forum. Its a wealth of knowledge i've been looking for a while.
So I also wanted to beg for help. This is my second time ive done ham and things went a bit worse than the first time. The problem is similar to my breciola that was done at the same time and seems to not have poisoned me, despite the mold.
So the process was coat the exposed areas of the pork with a mix of pepper, ground juniper, salt and the curing salt (I dont have the exact ratios here). We then put it in a tub of salt with pressure for a month and then air dried in a garage for 3-6 months. Conditions were Australian winter...so maybe 15C and 40-50% humidity. Sub optimal but OK.
The ham came out quite moldy but cutting into the surface was OK. So we washed it with vinegar and put it on to dry some more. In the end we were skeptical so carved one appart entirely from the bone. The inside didnt smell bad, just fermenting. In a similar way to italian fermented wet salamis (salumi?). We lost our nerve and it went into the bin. (The above photo is after the first vinegar wash and a sliced section can be seen)
However the second one I vinegar washed again and carved about 1cm off all faces and it came out like below: Taste of the outer sections was good, slightly creamy but like prochuto (as was the aim).Smell, slightly musty but not too bad. I have eaten a bit of it a couple of times and not been sick.
Does anyone have any suggestions here? or advice?
It tastes fine. Which in my view usually indicates that its OK. But I also dont want to appear in the obituaryies section of the newspaper...
