Hormel Foods is celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Hormel Cure 81 ham brand in 2013 with a reunion of current and past curemasters at the company’s headquartrers in Austin, MN, this month. Attaining the level of curemaster is “one of the highest honors at Hormel Foods,” the company said in a recent news release.

The curemaster is responsible for preserving the brand integrity and maintaining the quality of Cure 81 hams. Tthere have been seven curemasters overseeing the legacy of the product line over the course of the brand’s 50-year history.

According to the Hormel Foods Web site, in 1963, in an unprecedented approach to product development, Geo. A. Hormel & Company asked more than 1,000 homemakers to help create “the world’s most nearly perfect ham,” now known as Hormel® Cure 81® ham. As consumer tastes and preferences have changed, their ideas of the perfect ham have also Hormel Foods recently conducted a study to revisit consumers’ ideas of the perfect ham.

This Easter, Hormel Foods is donating money to Fisher House, an organization that provides housing for family members of military men and women. Learn more about the Cure 81 Fisher House project at the Cure 81 Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Cure81Ham. 

Visit the Hormel Foods Web site to learn more about the history of the Cure 81 ham brand at http://www.hormelfoods.com/Brands/BrandWall/Hormel-Cure-81-ham.

Find Cure 81 ham recipes at http://www.hormel.com/recipes/.