Why Ham Became the Traditional Easter Meal

The History of Easter Ham

(and the 26-Day Journey of Our Bone-In Hams)

When Easter arrives, many tables around the world feature a beautiful glazed ham as the centerpiece of the meal. But this tradition didn’t begin as a holiday luxury, it started as a practical way for farmers to preserve food through the winter.

The story of Easter ham is really a story about seasonality, preservation, and patience, three things that still define how we make ham today.

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Ham: One of the Oldest Preserved Meats in History

Ham has been enjoyed for thousands of years. Long before refrigeration, people needed reliable ways to preserve meat.

• As early as 1500 BC, Chinese texts describe curing pork legs with salt.

• The Romans later refined curing and smoking techniques and spread them throughout Europe.

• By the Middle Ages, salt-cured pork legs—what we now call ham—were common throughout Europe because they could last for months without spoiling.

Curing and smoking transformed fresh pork into a food that could survive the long winter months and still taste incredible when spring arrived.

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Why Ham Became the Traditional Easter Meal

Fall Butchering, Spring Feasting

Historically, pigs were slaughtered in late autumn or early winter. Fresh pork was eaten right away, but the legs were salted and cured so they could last for months.

The curing process often took several weeks or even months, which meant those hams were finally ready to eat just as spring arrived.

Right around Easter.

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Lent and the Return to Celebration

In many Christian traditions, the 40 days leading up to Easter, Lent, were a time when people limited or avoided meat.

When Easter finally arrived, it was a celebration. Families gathered for a large meal, and the cured meats that had been patiently waiting through winter became the perfect centerpiece.

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Why Ham Instead of Lamb?

In the Bible, lamb is the traditional Easter meat. But in many parts of Northern and Central Europe, pigs were more common than sheep.

As a result, pork, especially cured ham, became the Easter tradition that many European immigrants later brought to the United States and beyond.

Today, Easter ham remains one of the most iconic holiday meals in many households.

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The L&S Method: A 26-Day Ham Process

At L&S Artisan Meats, our bone-in hams follow a 26-day process that reflects the same old traditions of patience and craftsmanship.

Each ham begins with careful curing, 22 days in a salt brine, allowing the flavors to slowly develop deep into the meat. After curing, the hams move into the smoker for a slow 12-hour smoke, where they develop that rich flavor and beautiful color that make a true holiday ham so special.

Holiday ham season at the farm can be intense.

During big holiday runs, Shawn’s sleep schedule revolves around the smoker. He gets up throughout the night to check temperatures and makes sure every ham was progressing exactly as it should.

For years he had to walk out to the smokers and physically check, often a toddler trailing behind him. A couple of years ago we finally added a bit of modern help to the process: Inkbird wireless thermometers that connect directly to Shawn’s phone. I’m usually a little skeptical about adding technology to traditional food processes, but this gadget has honestly saved us some sanity.

Instead of running outside in the middle of the night, Shawn can now keep an eye on the ham temperatures right from his phone while still maintaining the same level of attention and control.

We’ve also added humidity controllers to our aging room, which allow us to carefully regulate moisture while the salamis and Whole-muscle cured meats are aging.

Even with these modern tools, the heart of the process hasn’t changed: time, patience, and careful attention.

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Easter Traditions in Ecuador

Living in Ecuador has also introduced us to another beautiful Holy Week food tradition:
Fanesca

Fanesca is a rich ceremonial soup eaten during Semana Santa, especially on Good Friday. The dish is deeply symbolic and traditionally contains salted cod, squash, milk, peanuts, and twelve different grains or legumes representing the twelve apostles. It’s often topped with garnishes like hard-boiled eggs, fried plantains, cheese, and little fried dough balls.

Preparing fanesca is usually a family and community effort, with many hands involved in chopping, cooking, and assembling the final dish. Taking many, many hours to prepare.

At our farm, this has become part of our own tradition too.

Every year during Holy Week, our children are invited to our neighbor’s home to help prepare the fried dough balls that top the fanesca. It’s one of those small but special moments where food, culture, and community come together.

Then on the Thursday before Easter, we gather with our employees and share a big meal of fanesca together.

While we love Easter ham, and it’s always been a part of our own holiday traditions, this Ecuadorian dish reminds us that food traditions evolve and grow as communities and cultures come together.

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From Winter Tradition to Your Easter Table

Easter ham has always been about more than just food. It represents the end of winter, the return of abundance, and gathering around the table with family and friends.

Centuries ago, farmers cured their hams through the winter so they could enjoy them in spring.

Today, we’re proud to carry that same tradition forward, while also embracing the traditions of the place we now call home.

From sharing fanesca with our neighbors and employees during Holy Week to slow-smoking hams for Easter tables, food continues to bring people together in the best way possible.