Canning ham is not the same job as canning fresh pork. Grocery-store ham, spiral-cut ham, and country ham are cured. The National Center for Home Food Preservation does not support using fresh-meat canning times for cured, brined, or corned meats, because no current science-based process exists for jars of ham alone. Fresh, uncured pork can be pressure canned. Cured ham is better frozen, or used only in the small amounts allowed by a tested recipe.
That distinction matters because ham is a low-acid food. Clostridium botulinum spores can survive boiling-water temperatures and produce toxin in a sealed jar. Pressure canning is the only home method that reaches the temperatures needed to destroy those spores, and only when the time, pressure, jar size, and food match a tested process.
Why cured ham has no tested home-canning process
USDA directions for strips, cubes, and chunks list bear, beef, lamb, pork, veal, and venison. They do not list ham or corned beef. Extension specialists citing the National Center for Home Food Preservation put the position plainly: fresh-meat procedures cannot be used for cured, brined, or corned meats.
Curing changes how a jar heats. Salt, sugar, and nitrite can firm the meat or dry it. Covering liquid may be absorbed instead of staying around the pieces, so the center of a chunk can lag behind the temperature assumed in the fresh-pork process. Using the fresh-meat time could then leave the jar underprocessed. Nitrite can also make botulinum spores more heat-sensitive in some products, which would mean the fresh-meat time overcooks the meat. Either way, the result is not known without product-specific heat-penetration tests.
Dr. Elizabeth Andress, longtime director of the National Center for Home Food Preservation, has said she could find no evidence that the USDA research behind current home meat processes included cured meats. An early reference to corned beef in 1940s work was not traceable in later reviews, and corned beef was dropped from USDA home-canning publications. She has also said she does not invent processes for low-acid foods.
Blog instructions that dice smoked ham, cover it with boiling water, and run the fresh-meat schedule are not a substitute for that missing research. Commercial plants can ham with industrial retorts, controlled formulas, and product-by-product studies. Those processes are not interchangeable with a home pressure canner.
Which cuts are actually eligible
“Ham” usually means the hind leg after curing. City ham, water-added ham, spiral-cut ham, and most picnic ham have already been cured and often smoked or fully cooked. Country ham and other dry-cured hams are cured and aged until they are shelf-stable in their traditional form. None of these has a tested home-canning process.
A fresh ham is different. It is an uncured pork leg. Once the bone is removed and the meat is cut into strips, cubes, or chunks, it falls under the tested pork process. Ground fresh pork has its own hot-pack process. Do not grind cured ham and treat it as fresh ground pork.
How to pressure can fresh pork
Use only chilled meat from a healthy animal. Trim gristle, bruised spots, and excess fat. Fat left on the pieces can interfere with the seal. Remove large bones. Cut strips about 1 inch wide, or cubes and chunks that fit the jar loosely. Strong-flavored wild meat can be soaked for 1 hour in a brine of 1 tablespoon salt per quart of water, then rinsed. That soak is for flavor, not for cured pork.
Hot pack is preferred. Precook the meat until rare by roasting, stewing, or browning in a small amount of fat. Pack hot meat loosely into hot jars. Add boiling broth, meat drippings, water, or tomato juice, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Salt is optional: ½ teaspoon per pint or 1 teaspoon per quart. It is for taste, not safety.
Raw pack is allowed for strips, cubes, and chunks. Add the optional salt, fill hot jars with raw pieces, and leave 1 inch of headspace. Do not add liquid. Lean modern cuts often do not release enough juice to cover the meat, which is why hot pack keeps better quality in storage.
Release air bubbles, wipe rims, and apply lids fingertip-tight. Process in a pressure canner, not a boiling-water canner or an electric pressure cooker unless the manufacturer and a tested recipe both specifically allow that model. Vent steam for 10 minutes before closing the vent, then start timing only after the canner reaches the required pressure.
For both hot and raw pack of strips, cubes, or chunks:
| Jar size | Time | Dial gauge, 0–2,000 ft | Weighted gauge, 0–1,000 ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pints | 75 minutes | 11 lb | 10 lb |
| Quarts | 90 minutes | 11 lb | 10 lb |
Raise the dial-gauge pressure by 1 pound for each additional 2,000 feet: 12 lb at 2,001–4,000 feet, 13 lb at 4,001–6,000 feet, and 14 lb at 6,001–8,000 feet. Weighted-gauge canners use 15 lb above 1,000 feet. Let the canner cool and depressurize on its own. Forcing the cool-down can leave the food underprocessed and can cause liquid loss or seal failure.
Ground or chopped fresh pork is hot pack only, with the same 75-minute pint and 90-minute quart schedule and the same altitude pressures.
Where a little ham is allowed
A tested recipe can include a measured amount of ham after the formula and process have been studied together. Older Extension answers point to examples such as split pea soup with ham in the Ball Blue Book, and bean recipes that allow one small cube of pork, ham, or bacon per jar and explicitly say not to add more. Those exceptions do not authorize a jar packed with ham.
Do not add ham or bacon to green beans, soup, or stew and then use the plain-vegetable time. Extra fat, salt, and meat change heating. If a current tested recipe is unavailable for the exact product, leave the cured meat out and add it when you open the jar.
What commercial canned ham actually is
USDA describes two retail forms. Shelf-stable canned ham is generally 3 pounds or less and is processed to destroy organisms that could grow at room temperature, including Clostridium botulinum spores. Refrigerated canned ham is cooked enough to kill infectious organisms, including trichinae, but it is not sterilized, so it must stay cold. Neither product tells you a home process time.
Shelf-stable cans belong in a cool pantry and should be discarded if swollen, badly dented at the seam, or leaking. Refrigerated canned ham is not pantry food. Once any canned ham is opened, refrigerate leftovers promptly and do not store the meat in the opened can.
Better ways to keep cured ham
Freezing is the method Extension services recommend for ham and bacon. Wrap tightly, label, and freeze at 0°F. Quality is best within a few months, though the meat remains safe longer if it stays frozen.
A cooked city ham or spiral ham also keeps in the refrigerator for the time stated on the package, typically about 3 to 5 days once sliced or opened, or longer if the vacuum package is intact and dated. Reheat leftovers to 165°F.
Country-style dry curing is a separate preservation method, not a canning shortcut. Properly made dry-cured hams reach a high internal salt level and lose moisture during aging, which is why traditional country hams can be held at room temperature. That process depends on salt penetration, temperature, and aging conditions. It is not achieved by packing leftover holiday ham into jars.
Spoilage signs and the botulism rule
Discard any jar that is unsealed, bulging, leaking, spurting liquid, or moldy, or that smells off. Botulinum toxin does not always change the look or smell of food. Low-acid food that was not processed by a current tested pressure-canning method should not be tasted to check it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises discarding home-canned food that might contain the toxin rather than relying on boiling to make it safe. USDA canning guidance has long said that boiling 10 minutes, plus 1 minute per 1,000 feet of elevation, can destroy toxin if it is present, but that step does not fix an untested process and does not replace the CDC discard advice when botulism is a real possibility.
Questions readers usually still have
Can I water-bath can ham if I add vinegar? No. Acidifying a few tablespoons of vinegar into a jar of meat does not turn the product into a tested pickle, and boiling-water processing cannot be trusted to destroy botulinum spores in low-acid meat.
Does precooking smoked ham make canning safe? No. The missing data is heat penetration in the cured product during the canner process, not whether the ham was cooked before it went into the jar.
Can I can ham broth or bone stock? Meat stock made from fresh bones has a tested process: 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts at the same pressures used for meat chunks. A broth boiled from a cured ham bone is not that product. Freeze it.
Why do older family instructions can ham? Earlier booklets sometimes included cured meats, and corned beef appeared in mid-century research that USDA later dropped. Current guidance follows the processes that can still be traced to tested methods. Family practice is not a heat-penetration study.
What should I do with leftover holiday ham? Slice or dice it, freeze it in meal-size packs, or refrigerate and use it within a few days. If you want jars on the shelf, pressure can fresh pork and keep the cured ham for flavoring after the jar is opened.