National Baked Ham with Pineapple Day

Taking place on Easter, National Baked Ham with Pineapple Day celebrates the pairing of baked ham and pineapple. Baked ham, or baked ham with pineapple, is an Easter staple, where savory and salty meet sweet. Family and friends gather to celebrate baked ham and pineapple, or both the baked ham and pineapple, and Easter!

Baked ham and pineapple have been paired since the first half of the twentieth century. The improvement and proliferation of canning techniques in the early twentieth century made pineapple more available to the middle class and led to pineapples being more common in recipes. To boost sales, ads for canned pineapple were placed in women's magazines and in recipe booklets that came with them. The Hawaiian Pineapple Packers Association 1925 booklet, "99 Tempting Pineapple Treats," included a recipe for baked ham with pineapple, and a similar recipe showed up again in the following year's booklet, "Hawaiian Pineapple as 100 Good Cooks Serve It."

Faux celebrations of Hawaiian culture, with luaus and roast pigs with pineapple, took root with tourists in Hawaii and then seeped into recipe booklets in the decades that followed. In the 1950s, Dole published such booklets, as did Del Monte, with one titled "Hawaiian Luau," in an effort to bring Hawaiian paradise into the home, similar to the idea of drinking a mai tai in an untropical locale.

But why Easter? For many people around the world, lamb is the centerpiece of the Easter meal, being rooted in the Jewish Passover tradition. In fact, lamb was the foremost Easter meal in the United States until the mid-twentieth century, when ham supplanted it. At the time, synthetic fabrics began being used in place of wool, and with World War II over, wool was no longer needed for uniforms. With less of a need for sheep, there was less lamb available for Easter. More importantly, ham was more affordable than lamb, and could also be purchased in quantities to serve larger groups of people.

Furthermore, baked ham became associated with Easter because the holiday takes place in spring. Pigs were usually slaughtered in the fall, the cooler temperatures being ideal for the multi-day process of preparing them. Pigs taken during this time of year often tasted better too, having recently grazed on acorns and grass free of insects. The ham cured over winter, and was ready to eat in the spring, when Easter takes place. Baked ham thus became the standard Easter meal, and with canned pineapple coming into its own, baked ham regularly landed on Easter tables with pineapple. Maraschino cherries are usually placed in the center of the pineapple, where the core was removed, giving baked ham with pineapple an iconic look on National Baked Ham with Pineapple Day or on any day it is enjoyed!

How to Observe National Baked Ham with Pineapple Day

Enjoy some baked ham with pineapple! Make your own or have it at a restaurant. Join with family and friends and celebrate as part of Easter, or celebrate it on its own!

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