From the Brand Real Salt Cured Country Ham

Our naturally aged Country Hams are cured using the same methods that have been employed for generations on the family farms of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Ray and Geneva Goad opened their first restaurant ten years after Ray's service in the Navy during World War II, with Country Ham and Granny Goad's Biscuits topping the menu. By 1972, when Ray Goad opened his dozens of Kingburgers across Virginia and the Carolinas, serving America's First Fast Food Breakfast of Country Ham and Sausage Biscuits, there was not a McDonald's, Burger King, or Hardees open for breakfast.

Country Ham harks back to the way food was preserved on the family farms of Appalachia before electricity and refrigeration. The family tradition of butchering hogs in the late fall allowed for them to be preserved during the cold winter months with a natural curing process. Today, those traditions are kept alive in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, where a few facilities owned and operated by the descendants of those early American pioneers are still making Country Hams.

Ray Jr. and Susan, the children of Geneva and Ray Goad, are perpetuating the legacy of Ray's Restaurants and the rich traditions of Country Ham for their children and grandchildren. They ensure that Ray's Country Ham is cured in the same style featured for almost 50 years at the Ray's Starlight Restaurant in Mount Airy, NC, and dozens of Ray's Kingburgers and Sweet Sue Restaurants across five Mid-Atlantic States.

If you know and love the beautiful shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains, that's where you'll still find Ray's Country Ham and Biscuits. Mount Airy, North Carolina, is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just across the border from Virginia, which is why the Country Hams are called "Blue Ridge Mountain Cured."

Ray's package of Country Ham Hocks consists of four (4) 10 oz. split hock ends of a Ray's whole bone-in Country Ham, naturally dry-cured with salt, pepper, sugar, brown sugar, nitrites, and nitrates, without smoking. The hocks are then split into 10 oz portions, vacuum-packed, and are suitable for shipping and storage for an extended period without refrigeration.

Susan and Ray Jr., the children of Geneva and Ray Goad, are perpetuating the legacy of Ray's Country Ham featured for almost 50 years at the Ray's Starlight Restaurant in Mount Airy, NC, and at dozens of Ray's Kingburgers and Sweet Sue's Restaurants across five of the Mid-Atlantic States.

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