New Xmas Ham

Ok looking at the River Cottage video again it says I need 2 days per kilo in the brine, the ham is 8.7kg so I would need to have it in there for 17 days. But this length of time is only needed if you intend leaving the ham for a few week or months to hang outside and dry. It looks like I can get away with 16 days in the brine meaning it will be ready to boil on the Monday 22nd December or I could leave it until the 23rd.

Here is a pic of the brine cooking up in the 30lt pot.

The brine is made up of the following:

8lts water
4lts apple juice
2lts cider
bottle of craft beer I found in the fridge, that's giving the foam in the pic
4kg salt
2kg soft brown sugar
2kg dermera sugar
12 bay leaves
24 juniper berries
24 black pepper corns
12 cloves

This is brought to the boil carefully not letting the sugar burn to the bottom of the pot. The brine must be let go completely cold as you do not want to cook the ham. Should take too long today, only 5 degrees outside...

In goes the ham straight from the freezer, I got the saw out and cut off the trotter...