CHOICE put ham champagne, smoked and honey varieties to the test

The best ham in Australia revealed: Food experts put the packaged varieties (including honey and smoked) to the test – and a $4.79 premium cut is named number one

CHOICE puts 34 popular packaged hams to the test to find out which is the best
A panel of three food experts tasted the ham samples in a blind tasting test
The supermarket brands included Primo, Don, D’Orsogna, Coles and Aldi
Don Traditional Premium Thick Cut Ham off the Bone ($4.79) came out on top

By Cindy Tran for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 02:42 GMT, 13 November 2019 | Updated: 02:43 GMT, 13 November 2019

Australian consumer organisation CHOICE has put 34 packaged hams to the test to find out which is the best.

A panel of three food experts tasted the ham samples in a blind tasting test – and scored them based on taste (60 per cent flavour, 20 per cent texture, 10 per cent appearance and 10 per cent aroma) and nutrition.

The popular supermarket brands including Primo, Don, D’Orsogna, Coles and Aldi, ranged from English and champagne to smoked and honey ham varieties.

Consumer group CHOICE has put 34 packaged hams to the test to find out which is the best

Of the 34 products tested, Don Traditional Premium Thick Cut Ham off the Bone (left) came out on top with a score of 76%, followed by D’Orsogna Premium Sweet Honey Leg Ham (right) 74%

So how did the hams stack up?

Of the 34 products tested, CHOICE recommend six that achieved an overall score of 70 per cent or more

1. Don Traditional Premium Thick Cut Ham off the Bone – 76%

2. D’Orsogna Premium Sweet Honey Leg Ham – 74%

3. Aldi Berg Smallgoods Shaved Honey Ham – 72%

4. Don Thinly Sliced English Style Leg Ham – 72%

5. Coles Honey ham sliced – 71%

6. Don Premium Classic English Boneless Leg Ham – 71%

Bottom five:

Aldi Berg Smallgoods Shaved Ham Triple Smoked – 53%

Primo Thinly sliced double smoked distinctively smokey leg ham – 53%

Aldi Berg Smallgoods Shaved Ham 100g – 50%

Don All Natural Double Smoked Sliced Leg Ham – 48%

Primo Thinly sliced triple smoked leg ham – 45%

D’Orsogna Shaved honey leg ham multi-pack – 41%

Made from 95 per cent Australian ingredients, Don Traditional Premium Thick Cut Ham off the Bone ($4.79) came out on top as the ‘best smoked ham’ after scoring 73 per cent.

‘One of the only “real” looking hams – great,’ one expert said.

D’Orsogna Premium Sweet Honey Leg Ham ($.3.70) wasn’t far behind, with the second highest score of 74 per cent.

‘Nice large size. Strong smoke profile, watery in texture. Good smoked rind, attractive, nice flavour,’ another judge said.

In third place, Aldi Berg Smallgoods Shaved Honey Ham (left) scored 72 per cent, followed by Coles Honey ham sliced (right) with a score of 71 per cent

In the English ham category, Don Thinly Sliced English Style Leg Ham (left) came out on top with a score of 72 per cent, followed by Don Premium Classic English Boneless Leg Ham (right) with a score of 71 per cent

The different types of ham

Champagne ham: Originally called ‘champagne’ ham because it was served at celebrations. You may be surprised (or disappointed) to know that it doesn’t actually contain any champagne

Honey ham: Australian regulations require honey to be used in the ingredients. However, CHOICE found in the taste test that the honey flavour doesn’t always come through

Smoked ham: Smoked ham seems to be the most popular – it was the largest group in the taste test. Hams can be preserved or flavoured either by smoking or by adding smoke flavour

English ham: English ham essentially refers to traditional leg ham (as the word ham comes from the Old English hamm)

In third place, Aldi Berg Smallgoods Shaved Honey Ham ($3.99) scored 72 per cent, with one expert saying it has a ‘smokey sweet, good flavour’.

Coles Honey ham sliced ($2) was also a crowd favourite after scoring 71 per cent.

In the English ham category, Don Thinly Sliced English Style Leg Ham ($4.50) came out on top with a score of 72 per cent, followed by Don Premium Classic English Boneless Leg Ham ($6.50) with a score of 71 per cent.

During the test, the experts found Don All’s Natural double smoked sliced leg ham, English style sliced leg ham and D’Orsogna 100% natural sliced ham double smoked don’t use preservative – but rather plant-based nitrites that are naturally occurring through fruit or vegetable extracts.

Nick Fletcher, principal toxicologist at Food Standards Australia New Zealand reassured that ‘nitrites and nitrates are safe at the level they occur in food’

‘That’s true for both food like fruits and vegetables that naturally contain them, and also through their use as a food additive [such as in processed meats],’ he said.

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