Following the winter solstice, most families in Weixi County, Diqing Prefecture are busy pickling hams these days.

Yang Yunmei, a well-known Weixi ham seller, live in Weixi’s Baohe Town, and her hams won wide praise from customers.

Entering Yang's house, you’ll be greeted by arrays of fragrant hams that are arranged in sequence of the days on which they were pickled.

Yang’s husband is a veteran who has over 10 years of experience in pickling traditional hams, but by following the meticulous traditional steps he can at most pickle 15 hams per day.

He first sprays some high-land barley liquor onto the chosen fresh hind legs, so that extra liquid in the pork can be brought out, with bacteria and mites killed.

Then he sprinkles the precise amount of salt onto the ham, pressing and rubbing it repeatedly until the whole ham is covered by salt.

And finally the pickled hams will be dried up in shady places with sound ventilation. The whole process lasts for at least one year.   

Now, Yang’s family produces around 600 hams each year, most of which are sold to Shanghai, Hangzhou and other places at the price of 30 yuan per kilogram.

Source: Diqing Daily and China.org.cn; trans-editing by Wang Shixue