SOLUTIONS
Protein
A Little Bit Country
Cured hams and ham products from major processors like Smithfield, Hormel, Sugardale and others are commonly found in retail meat departments, but country hams have their place, too. One example is Dan’l Boone Inn brand country ham, from Boone, N.C.-based producer Goodnight Brothers, available at such grocers as Harris Teeter, Food City, Dollar Tree, Piggly Wiggly and Food King. The company also makes a natural country ham from pork that’s Animal Welfare Approved and cured without nitrites. The product is sold at Whole Foods Market locations in the south and at Earth Fare stores. Burger’s Smokehouse, in California, Mo., which sells its products to such stores as Schnucks, Woodman’s, Price Chopper and Walmart, offers fully cooked and uncooked country hams rubbed with salt, pepper and brown sugar and aged for more than 90 days. Burger’s also produces an “attic-aged” country ham that takes almost a year to make, according to the dictates of an original family recipe. As consumers have become more knowledgeable and discerning about where their food comes from, they’re also interested in higher-end hams. For instance, the Snake River Farms division of Agri-Beef, in Boise, Idaho, is known for its Wagyu beef, but it also offers Kurobata ham made from purebred Berkshire hogs raised on small family farms. The Omaha Steaks home-delivery menu includes Duroc ham made from a heritage breed of pork known for its tenderness. Amazon offers a grass-fed, bone-in Iberico pork ham cured with Mediterranean sea salt, produced in Spain and available for orders in the United States.
Interest in high-protein meals and snacks is leading to the development of items like Smithfield's Power Bites, made with ham and other meats.
Deli and Meal Solutions
In addition to hams sold in the retail meat case and butcher department, the overall ham category includes deli meats and prepared or packaged foods with ham as an ingredient. Indeed, ham remains one of the most popular deli meats, with new varieties regularly coming to market. Niman Ranch, based in Westminster, Colo., recently added new sliced deli hams made from The ham section of the retail meat case has broadened in recent years to include a greater variety of formats, portions and flavors.
pork raised with no antibiotics, while the D’Artagnan brand, based in Union County, N.J., has brought out a line of artisanal deli meats, including an uncured applewood-smoked Berkshire ham. Meanwhile, with continued demand for products high in protein, meal and snack makers are adding ham to their solutions. Smithfield, for its part, has rolled out heat-and-eat Power Bites made with ham, bacon, sausage, eggs and cheddar.
Links in a Similar Chain
Like ham, the sausage category is mature but continually adding twists on a favorite protein type. From ethnic forms like bratwurst, chorizo and Italian sausage, to sausage bites used on ever-popular charcuterie trays, these loveable links are staples in meat cases and as toppings and ingredients. (Fun fact: October is actually National Sausage Month.) Sausages flavored with spicy, bold or globally inspired flavors, and made with different base proteins of pork, chicken, turkey and even seafood, have been jazzing up the category for the past several years. Niman Ranch recently got inventive with flavors, introducing an applewood-smoked, bacon-flavored breakfast sausage. New forms of sausage are also helping grocers diversify their protein offerings. For instance, Johnsonville Sausage, of Sheboygan Falls, Wis., just came out with Sausage Strips, a fully cooked product that looks and cooks like bacon, but is made with pork-based sausage. The strips are available in original, spicy, maple and chorizo varieties. (For additional information, see Editors’ Picks on page 108).
Here Come the Plants
Plant-based alternatives are becoming players in the ham and sausage segments, just as such items have also shaken up other animal-based categories. Grocers can add these items to dedicated plant-based areas of the meat case or merchandise them alongside traditional animal-based counterparts. Several plant-based brands have introduced their versions of sausage, including Beyond Meat plantbased sausage; The Very Good Butchers’ Cajun sausages, bratwurst and breakfast sausages; Meatless Farm’s meat-free breakfast sausage links and patties; and Lightlife plant-based bratwurst, Italian sausage and chorizo. Alt-ham products are available, too, such as Tofurky’s plant-based ham roast with an amber ale glaze, and Yves veggie ham slices for sandwiches and ingredient applications.
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