Are you making a glaze for your next holiday ham? Get some ideas for the best spices to include in your glaze. My spice recommendations all come from Burlap & Barrel Single Origin Spices as they are my favorite spice company.
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A lot of time when you are buying a ham from a grocery store it comes with a glaze. But rarely do I find that those glazes are any good. So I will just make my own glaze. To make an excellent glaze you need some excellent spices. Let me share with you my favorite spices to choose when you are making a ham glaze.
Spices
Here are my favorite spices to use when making a ham glaze:
- Peppercorns
- Ground Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Freshly Grated Nutmeg
- Ground Coriander
- Ground Allspice
- Mustard Powder
- Ground Ginger
- Cardamom
My favorite two types of black pepper are:
- Zanzibar Black Peppercorns - Known for it's lemony flavor, these peppercorns won a good medal from Monde Selection.
- Robusta Black Peppercorns - These peppercorns have a classic pepper kick but with bold flavor coming from being allowed to fully ripen on the vine. The name comes from the peppercorns being grown along side Robusta coffee in Vietnam.
If you want to add pepper that has less of a bite to it, try using white peppercorns. I have an entire post dedicated to all the different peppercorns I have found, so take a moment to check that out when you are done with this post.
A lot of the spices that you use when baking are also great for ham. Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice can all be used in a ham glaze. Hams are all about the balance of salty and sweet which is why these spices go well with hams.
The cinnamon I recommend for a ham glaze is Cinnamon Verum. This is true cinnamon as most cinnamon you find in stores is actually cassia. The flavor isn't as spicy and bold as what you normally think of cinnamon. It has more citrus and piney notes. It's the cinnamon I believe is best for using in savory dishes as it adds complexity but you don't feel like you are eating or smelling a cinnamon roll.
If you are going to use nutmeg, please look for whole nutmeg and then grate it yourself. The flavor will be exceptionally better than buying nutmeg that has already been ground.
I have some ham glaze recipes that use mustard in them, but if want to add that flavor but have it not be overwhelming, consider adding some mustard powder to your glaze to make it more complex without screaming "there is mustard in this!"
One of the recipe I do use mustard in, I also add in some ground coriander. Did you know that coriander is the seeds of cilantro plants? In some parts of the whole they call the leaves and seeds both coriander. As a seed, it has a citrus-like flavor that I think works well in a ham glaze, especially if it's a sweet glaze, such as my Cheerwine Soda Ham Glaze that I use for an Instant Pot ham recipe.
Whole Cloves in Ham
You probably have seen many pictures of hams studded with whole cloves. Most likely a better picture than the one I took in a dark kitchen a few years ago. but it gets the point across.
It does make for a fun presentation. The downside is you have to remove all those cloves before you eat so that don't choke on them. Their fragrant flavor will flavor the outside of your ham and if you didn't want to do a glaze at all, then this is still a way to introduce more flavor to your ham.
My go to choice for cloves is the Pemba Cloves from Burlap & Barrel. You can either buy them whole to put them directly into the ham or you can buy them already ground up for you, which is great to mix directly into a glaze.
🛒Order Pemba Cloves
These cloves are handpicked on the small island of Pemba in the Zanzibar Archipelago located in Tanzania. They are picked at their peak and dried out in the tropical sun.
More Ham Tips
Before you go, here are some other tips on hams that you need to read.
Want to cook a ham fast? Try make Instant Pot Ham recipe. Yes, you can fit a ham into the Instant Pot! You may need to trim just a little bit off but most of the time I get a ham that fits without needing to do that.
Not sure what type of ham to pick out or are you confused by the different types of ham at the store? Read through my post on The Different Types of Ham. I talk about the difference between a shank ham and a butt ham. Also if you are curious, I devote a whole post to How is a Boneless Ham Made.
Want to by a ham ahead of time for a holiday? Learn How Far in Advance You Can Buy a Ham.
Are you cooking a spiral sliced ham? Learn about the best way to reheat a spiral ham so that it doesn't dry out. You also can check out my review of the Kirkland Spiral Ham from Costco.
What type of ham do you usually buy? Leave me a comment below and share. Or if you have any ham questions I haven't answered yet, use the comment sections to ask anything.
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