Ham curing mark 2

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to firstly say, great forum. Its a wealth of knowledge i've been looking for a while.

So I also wanted to beg for help. This is my second time ive done ham and things went a bit worse than the first time. The problem is similar to [url=http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?p=90115#90115]my breciola[/url] that was done at the same time and seems to not have poisoned me, despite the mold.

So the process was coat the exposed areas of the pork with a mix of pepper, ground juniper, salt and the curing salt (I dont have the exact ratios here). We then put it in a tub of salt with pressure for a month and then air dried in a garage for 3-6 months. Conditions were Australian winter...so maybe 15C and 40-50% humidity. Sub optimal but OK.

The ham came out quite moldy but cutting into the surface was OK. So we washed it with vinegar and put it on to dry some more. In the end we were skeptical so carved one appart entirely from the bone. The inside didnt smell bad, just fermenting. In a similar way to italian fermented wet salamis (salumi?). We lost our nerve and it went into the bin. (The above photo is after the first vinegar wash and a sliced section can be seen)

However the second one I vinegar washed again and carved about 1cm off all faces and it came out like below: Taste of the outer sections was good, slightly creamy but like prochuto (as was the aim).Smell, slightly musty but not too bad. I have eaten a bit of it a couple of times and not been sick.

Does anyone have any suggestions here? or advice?

Olives

Hmmm so I took my olives out of the shed today (I know, shed is not the best place for preserving) and washed them. They smell fine and taste OK. In the end I did two methods:
* Washed water method
* Brine cure method

A couple of comments. The washed water method worked fine but the olives are mushy and a bit crap. Taste fine but not so awesome.Might come out OK if I put them into a post brine pickle (vinegar and brine with some herbs?) never done a post cure.They had developed some mushrooms during the wash phase because I didnt change the water every day...so this method is not tollerant of my life style

The salt brined ones are better, crisp and nice. Good flavour and a little saltier. They had mushrooms growing on them when I took them out because I had a waterbag to hold them down which is a perfect place for mold to grow. Taste fine. No bad smells.

Anyway best description I have found is here:
http://ucanr.org/freepubs/docs/8267.pdf

Bresciola

From a sausage making forum I posted too and need somewhere to store my photos
Hi Guys,

I'm new to this forum and joined to ask some questions about...exactly this topic.

We recently did a bresciola cured with salt, pepper, curing salt and juniper (I think some oregano too but I dont have the recipe on hand). We fridge cured it in plastic bags for 10 days with a salt change half way through. We then removed, rinsed and fridge dried it for 3 days uncovered and then wrapped it in musslin cloth and let it air dry open in the fridge.

When removed the muslin had some what looked like blood stain and a fair bit of mold (green and white molds which I understand are penicillin and some other mold which isn't bad...we hope). The meat didnt smell much.

Being a bit concerned about the amount of mold I washed it in cold water with a scrubbing brush and then 2 lots of vinegar washes followed by another cold water rinse.

My question is, what can I do about the mold. We have had significant mold infestation in our hams too. They are cured in a mixed garage environment and fridge. I dont know the humidity but the temperature should be around 15C