So back in October of '09 I, after quite some time going over the "what-if's," decided to make my own Prosciutto, or air dried ham. I had to buy two from my proveyor so I went ahead and did both. After sitting in a mountain of Kosher salt for 21 or so days, and checking them each week, they were washed off. I then rubbed them down with bacon fat and sprinkled them heavily with black pepper to discourage flies from congregating around the beauties. Then I wrapped them up in cheesecloth and hung them in my dry storage area(the servers HATED looking at them and bumping into them!!) Withinn the last two weeks I cut into one and was able to put it on my menu with some freshly made Porcini lavasch, fresh mozzarella and a little Mesclun w/ oven dried grape tomatoes and a squeeze of lemon. The second one is still hanging as it can hang for as much as 3 years, I'll cut into it when I need it. This last week I bought two more hams to start a second round. Oh, and when u are ready to cut into it, shave off the hard outter skin and fry it up, the best pork rinds you ever had!!! The quality, I think, is better than any "prosciutto" I could buy from Sysco. Aside from the time it took, I'd much rather bring a craft to my town that is otherwise not practiced, than pay the high price of the Parma hams. I recently constructed a "true" cold smoker and may hit the next two with a few hours of cold smoke before drying... not quite sure yet. Any thoughts, questions or comments would be appreciated.