A typical local food

Jinhua ham is the typical local food in Jinhua of Zhejiang Province, which purportedly traces back to the Northern Song Dynasty when the famous General Zongze returned in triumph from the battlefield and local people presented him with pig legs and asked him to take them back to Kaifeng in recognition of the contributions of all officers and soldiers there. However, it was quite difficult to take all the pig legs back because of the long distance, so the pig legs were salted finally for the convenience of transportation. The salted pig legs were red as fire and thus referred to as “Fire Leg” (ham). They became tributes in the Qing Dynasty. The "two ends black" pig grown in Jinhua has large and fat back legs with tender meat, which can be made into ham after salting, shaping, leg spraying, cleaning, insolation, air-drying and other procedures in several months with strong delicious smell and is convenient for preservation and carrying. It is popular both at home and abroad. Tender and fire-like red in meat with shiny and smooth yellow outside, Jinhua ham is nutritious and delicious and has 18 kinds of amino acids, 8 of which can not be synthesized in human body by itself. The nutrient contents in the ham can be easily absorbed by human bodies after salting, fermentation and decomposition. As pointed out by the medicine in the Qing Dynasty in China, sweet, salty and warm, the ham can reinforce the spleen, stimulate the appetite, strengthen the waist and feet, anti-aging and replenish the deficient. It is the top-grade tonic for those after-cure and post partum.