Ham

/ham/, n.

the second son of Noah, Gen. 10:1.

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Cut of meat consisting of the thigh of a hog, usually preserved through a curing process that involves salting and smoking or drying.

In addition to preserving the meat, curing gives it additional flavour. Sugar or honey and spices are sometimes added to further enhance flavour. Produced throughout the Old World except where forbidden by religious edict (principally by observant Muslims and Jews), ham became a favoured food on farms of North America. The distinctive qualities of hams of various regions of the world result from unique combinations of hog-raising and meat-processing techniques. Virginia hams, for example, are cut from razorback hogs fed on peanuts and peaches and smoked over apple-and hickory-wood fires. Ham is a source of high-grade animal protein, thiamine, and iron.

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▪ France

      town, upper valley of the Somme River, Somme département, Picardie région, France, southwest of Saint-Quentin. Its medieval fortress, used for centuries as a state prison, was destroyed by German forces in 1917. Among the fortress' prisoners in the 15th century had been Joan of Arc, patron saint of France; Prince Louis-Napoléon, later Emperor Napoleon III, was detained there in 1840 and escaped six years later to England. The town has one of the largest sugar refineries in Europe. Pop. (1999) 5,398; (2006 est.) 5,219.QR

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