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Tupelo Honey-Glazed Ham

Source of Recipe

From "Down South" by Donald Link


Recipe Introduction

"When I was young I had a terrible encounter with a bunch of wasps in a field out in the country. So when I tell you that I once held a tray of honeybees, without a bee suit, trust me, it took a *lot* for me to do this. This went down at Donald Smiley Apiary in Wewahitchka, Florida, where I learned that this region is the only place in the world where true tupelo honey is made (and that there are haunting, magnificent tupelo swamps on the east coast of Florida). What makes tupelo honey so pure and aromatic is that the bees rely exclusively on perfumey tupelo flowers for pollination. A simple glazed ham is one of those classic dishes that has existed for generations for a reason. It's salty, sticky, sweet, and meaty—what's not to love about digging into one? I generally reserve this dish for the holidays, but every now and then I'll break it out on a cool fall day with some mashed potatoes and green beans."

List of Ingredients

â—¦  ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
â—¦  1 cup tupelo honey
â—¦  ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
â—¦  ½ teaspoon ground cloves
â—¦  ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
â—¦  ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
â—¦  ½ teaspoon cayenne
â—¦  1 (5-pound) cooked boneless ham


Recipe

Heat the oven to 350° F.

Heat the sugar, honey, coriander, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne, and ½ cup water in a medium saucepan over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Put the ham in a roasting pan and spoon some of the sugar mixture over the top, until well coated. Don't use all of it, as you will be repeating this process every 10 to 15 minutes during the baking process. Bake the ham, basting regularly, until the meat has an internal temperature of 140° F and is coated with a thick dark amber glaze, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Transfer the ham to a serving platter and tent with foil. Pour any remaining glaze into the roasting pan. Heat on the stove over medium-low heat, gently whisking, until everything that was baked onto the dish dissolves into the glaze. Simmer until syrupy, 4 to 5 minutes.

Slice the ham and serve with a generous drizzle of the reduced glaze.

Serves 8 to 10