It wouldn’t be Christmas without a glossy, succulent glazed ham sitting pride of place on the table – but finding the perfect ham can be tricky. Did you know more than two-thirds of ham sold in Australia is made from imported pork? When you buy Australian-made pork you’re getting the freshest, safest produce possible, as well as supporting our Aussie farmers. Keep an eye out for the pink ‘PorkMark’ or the words ‘Product of Australia’ when you’re selecting boneless ham.

Thankfully, when it comes to choosing the best ham for your family’s Christmas Day feast, the hard work has been done for you. From more than 140 entries, the Australian PorkMark Ham Awards found the best 100 per cent Australian hams over three categories (Best Boneless; Traditional Bone-In; and Nationally Available), so you don’t need to do any research.

The winners are:

Overall Winner and Best Artisan Ham
Pingelly Quality Meats, Pingelly, WA

Australia’s Best Boneless Ham
1^st Pingelly Quality Meats, Pingelly, WA
2^nd Sunvalley Fine Foods, Warana, Qld
3^rd German Butchery – Mona Vale, NSW

Australia’s Best Traditional Bone-In Ham
1^st Barossa Fine Foods, Edinburgh North, SA
2^nd Noosa Meat Centre, Noosaville, Qld
3^rd Lago and Paramount Smallgoods, Melbourne, Vic

Best Nationally Available Ham
1^st Woolworths Half-Leg Ham – Bone-In
2^nd Bertocchi Australian Leg Ham – Hickory Smoked
Highly Commended: Woolworths Whole Leg Ham – Bone-In

According to judges Paul McDonald and Simon Bestley, along with fleischmeister (that’s German for ‘meat master’, so trust us when we say he knows what he’s talking about) Horst Schurger, Pingelly’s ham was “perfectly smoky and sweet, with a brilliant initial taste, true to style and with even colouring”.

Barossa Fine Foods’ traditional bone-in ham was “well balanced” with “very mild flavours, mild smoke and excellent texture”.

Woolworths’ half-leg bone-in had a “great cure, great creamy fat, good salt and great colour”.

For recipes, tips and tricks for your Chrissy ham, go to pork.com.au