I took the ham out of the brine this evening and rinsed it off under a running tap and its now hanging up until I'm ready to cook it on Wednesday.

It smells absolutely amazing, I hope it tastes as good! I wanted to try a new recipe for cooking it, well really just to use the method that River Cottage used to cook it following on from the brine recipe I used. But Chris wants to use the apricot recipe we have used the last 2 years because its tried and tested and with 10 of his family arriving I was told my recipe better deliver so the pressure is on... time to panic...

In theory this could be left to hang for several months, as traditionally the smallholder weaners would be slaughtered in September/October and butchered and the ham could be brined and left to hang until needed many months later. All it needs is a soaking in fresh water for 24-48 hours depending on how salty it is.