Aged country ham is an art of the ages. At least one version of history credits the Spanish with bringing pigs to the new world as explorers were claiming the American shores for their royal patrons. The Newsom family soon followed those first explorers, arriving in Virginia in 1642 from England. From Virginia, the Newsoms migrated into North Carolina and eventually followed the pioneers into the new territories. In 1823, Nancy Newsom Mahaffey's family moved into Caldwell County, where the hams are cured now. Not long after arriving in America, the Newsoms had begun curing hams, using a process that has altered very little to this day. The process that Col. Nancy uses today came through an old will dating to the late 1700s. The Newsom family continued the process as others were discarding the "old ways." Newsom's ham was born as a commercial process in the 1960s and in 1975 grew to renown through the plaudits of the late James Beard. In May 2009, Newsom's Aged Ham reached another milestone with an invitation to the Fifth World Congress of Dry Cured Hams in Spain, where one of the hams cured in a smokehouse in Princeton, Caldwell County, Kentucky was placed into the Jamon Museum of Aracena. Nancy (right) proudly accompanied the ham of the new world back to the old. It is our work to continue preserving the "Lost Art" of artisanal ham curing -- an ambient weather cure that follows our changing seasons. Curing involves a combination of time and know-how. Ingredients of salt and brown sugar are rubbed into the ham by hand. Hams are hand-washed and hung to be smoked with hickory wood. A slow, curling smoke bathes the hams to add flavor. After many months of aging in the changeable Kentucky climate, the recipe produces a delicious aged meat. Each Colonel Newsom's Aged Kentucky Country Ham is handled a total of 18 TIMES before being packaged to ship to your door. Newsom's hams are a hand-crafted product, limited in number. Every ham receives that same hand-crafted care that drew the attention of the late James Beard and the World Congress of jamon in Spain. ... No Sodium Nitrate or Nitrite ... Natural Methods -- No quick cure used ... Approximately one year or older at harvest ... ... Shipping materials include Recipe Folder with Cooking Instructions ... Shipping by UPS (United Parcel Service). Please allow our company to determine 3rd-day, 2nd-day or overnite air shipment based on your geographic location. Please make certain that all shipping addresses are complete and as accurate as possible. We cannot be responsible for a perishable product delivered to incorrectly furnished addresses. Feel free to call for additional information. We invite all of your inquiries.Contact us by mail at Newsom's Country Hams, 208 East Main Street, P.O. Box 313, Princeton, Ky. 42445 ... Phone: 270-365-2482 (during current daily store hours M-F 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. CST and Sat. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. CST) ... e-mail: newsomsham@yahoo.com ALLOW A DAY or TWO FOR soaking IF PLANNING TO COOK YOUR AGED HAM Col. Newsom's Aged Country Ham, New Crop Ham Seasoning (Mini-Hocks, Chunks, Skins) Ground Cooked Country Ham