Ely Farm Products: The Best Ham in Bucks

According to the National Pork Board, about 70 percent of Americans will be serving ham on Easter Sunday. In Europe, cured pig’s leg (ham to the rest of us) is the stuff of legend and folklore, each country and region claiming to have the best. Italy boasts prosciutto; in Germany, it's the Black Forest version; France has Bayonne; and in Spain, it's Iberico and Serrano.

In Newtown, we boast Ely ham, cured and smoked either locally on Woodhill Road by seventh-generation farmer Dwight Ely and his family or at Stoltzfus Meats near Lancaster when production demand is too much for the Newtown facility.

Ely’s ham has been an eight-time winner for best boneless ham awarded by the national pork board. Ely ham will be on my table this Sunday.

Ely offers a full line of pork, beef, lamb and chicken products for retail and wholesale purchase. The on-site farm store, smokehouse, and USDA-inspected processing facility is open Thursday and Friday from 9 to 5 and Saturday from 9 to 2. The other days are reserved for slaughter and butchering.

Fresh sausage, kielbasa, hand-cut steaks, pork chops, cured meats, turkey, chicken, and veal are always available. Dwight’s daughter Elisabeth has her own egg business thanks to free-range chickens grazed at the farm.

Dwight’s wife Susan and sons Alden and Luke work the farm store counter most days. In 2006, Ely added cheese to his their of products, hand-making three varieties on the farm using locally sourced raw milk. Last year, the farm went green installing solar panels that produce 65 percent of the farm’s electricity.

Walking into the store, you will see the full line of Ely products on display. On the top of the counter there are free samples of most products. Whenever I go, I stock up on bacon (some of the best I have ever tasted), pork butt, bulk sausage, eggs, scrapple and a chunk each of the three farm-made cheeses.

Aldan's Blessing, named after Dwight's father, is a Trappist-style washed curd, washed rind cheese with robust flavor and soft texture. Washington Crossing, aged two to three months, is a washed curd, semi-firm, smooth, nutty flavored wheel. The Makefield, recognizing the local township, is Abondance-style natural rind, firm, buttery-flavored wheel that Ely ages eight to 18 months.

The famed ham is the signature product, and unlike the hams sold in most supermarkets, no water is added. The meat is sweet, with just the right amount of sodium to lift the flavor. Either bone-in or boneless, the hams are cut and sized for all families. This year they are priced at $4.85 a pound -- and, in my opinion, worth every dime. Ely Pork Products also caters pig roasts. They will come to your party and smoke a whole pig for up to 200 guests.

If you want to treat your family to the real taste of artisanal ham instead of a water-added facsimile sold at most supermarkets, pay a visit to the farm. Experience an on-farm store with the actual farmer who raised and processed the products he is selling you, a product he stands by and is proud of.

Ely Farm Products is located at 401 Woodhill Road, Newtown. 215-860-0669 Hours are Thursday and Friday 9 to 5; Saturday 9 to 2. Closed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information, visit www.elyporkproducts.com