Where is spam manufactured

During WWII, Spam's reach made its way to England and the countries of the Asian Pacific, where rationing and the presence of American troops saw the meat become a menu staple. Laudan, who grew up in postwar Britain, has written about how deep-fried Spam fritters "turned up regularly for school lunches… one more in the series of horrors produced by the school cooks" in England. By the end of WWII — and with thousands of American GIs returning home who would refuse to eat it — Spam saw its role start to slowly shift away from convenient protein source to "sometimes-food" side dish.

The evolution definitely started in the '60s where it became more of an ingredient: It was used for sandwiches and as an ingredient in eggs. But while the core of America pushed Spam to the side of their plates, the canned meat became a culinary sensation in much of the Asian Pacific and Hawaii.

Asia's present-day fondness for Spam stemmed directly from WWII and following conflicts, during which an entire generation grew up with Spam. In Hawaii, Spam's proliferance happened less due to the presence of American GIs and more to the government restrictions unfairly placed on the local population. Instead, the United States placed sanctions on Hawaiian residents, restricting the deep-sea fishing industries that were mainly run by Japanese-Americans. Because islanders were no longer allowed to fish, Laudan says, "one of the important sources of protein for the islands vanished.

Simultaneously across the Pacific, residents of Korea and Japan "were on the point of starvation," Laudan says. Army base with broth and spices. Today, Korea is the world's second-largest consumer of Spam after only the United States , where it's seen as a luxury item: Spam is a popular gift for the Lunar New Year, packaged in gift boxes along with cooking oil and seasonings. Spam musubi.

In the decades after WWI, as native Koreans and Japanese migrated to Hawaii, food culture in the islands became even more intertwined, combining the culinary preferences of natives and the Asian and Anglo diasporas. Japanese immigrants to Hawaii are credited with inventing Spam musubi, a Hawaiian version of onigiri that binds a cooked slab of Spam to rice with a piece of nori. Touted for its portability, it's still widely available in Hawaiian convenience stores as an easy grab-and-go lunch or snack.

Diner staple loco moco, a dish featuring rice topped with a hamburger patty, fried egg, and brown gravy often features Spam as an additional protein. And the meat pops up in everything from fried rice to omelets to saimin the Hawaiian noodle soup dish. Today, Spam fervor in Hawaii has sustained a decade-old Spam festival in Waikiki, where chefs and Spam-lovers gather to appreciate and explore the lunchmeat's role in Hawaiian culture.

Earlier this spring, the 12th-annual Spam Jam saw more than 24, attendees converge to sample dishes like Spam lettuce wraps, Spam and corn chowder, Spam-and-basil on Sicilian-style pizza, and a dessert dubbed "Mom's Puerto Rican Spam flan. Like crazy," says festival co-founder Karen Winpenny, who has memories of the ingredient dating back to when she was eight or nine years old.

According to Winpenny, the first edition of Spam Jam was devised as a way to get local Waikiki residents to intermingle with tourists and vice versa. Something new. Most importantly, the event has emerged as a way to raise money and awareness for the Hawaii Food Bank. The Hawaii Food Bank's most-requested item is cans of Spam. The story found its way across the Pacific, with Winpenny bringing it up during our conversation: "I read an article: I guess New York's starting to do something with Spam, too.

But Spam on upscale restaurant menus is not a recent phenomenon. James Beard Award-winner Alan Wong has experimented with a housemade version dubbed "Spong" , which shows up in breakfast dishes at his Honolulu restaurant Pineapple Room. His new spot, POT, offers a version of budae jjigae. And in , Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook of LA's Animal created a cult classic mash-up with their Spam and foie gras loco moco, re-imaging the Hawaiian dish with Carolina gold rice, hamburger patty, foie gras, and Spam straight from the can.

The spam-and-foie loco moco, which Dotolo says was inspired by his curiosity toward Hawaiian food, soon became an icon: When Animal was profiled later that year in both the New York Times and The New Yorker , its use of Spam and foie in one dish became the emblem of the restaurant's " giddy, sophisticated-stoner sensibility.

According to Wired , vacuum-sealing the raw pork product first and cooking it in the cans is what gives Spam that super-long shelf life and makes it pretty much perfect for keeping on the shelf until you get that once-every-few-years craving.

Or, you know, until the world ends and civilization as we know it crumbles around us. And it took a long time to get that canning process right. Before Hormel's extensive experimentation, canned meat would end up as dry inside but still surrounded in water. Hormel figured out not just the canning process, says How Stuff Works , but also the right amount of salt and the right temperature to cook at. After the cans of Spam are, well, canned, their next stop is a massive hydrostatic cooker.

The scale is crazy: the machine is a full six stories tall, says How Products are Made , and it's full of very, very hot water. The cans of raw Spam approach on a conveyor, and are pushed onto a shelf 24 at a time. That shelf moves the cans through a series of chambers within the cooker, where they're cooked, and sterilized, then washed, and finally cooled.

There are 11 chambers, and by the time cans complete their journey from beginning to end they're almost ready to be sent on their way. Not only is it a huge machine, but it's fast, too: 33, cans an hour can be processed through the cooker. That seems like a crazy amount, but it's keeping up with an almost insane amount of Spam sold. According to LiveScience , Hormel tries to keep up with an estimated three cans sold every second. After that, they're labeled, boxed, and shipped to a grocery store near you.

Everyone's familiar with those distinctive blue and yellow cans, right? Absolutely, and that's what makes it so surprising that there's an extra step that goes into the making of Spam in South Korea: it's often packaged up as part of a gift set.

It was a list that includes things like rare tea, imported wines , fine cuts of beef They even quoted a saleswoman at a high-end department store in Seoul who described it this way: "Here, Spam is a classy gift you can give to people you care about during the holiday.

How did this happen? Spam went to Korea with American troops during the Korean War , and at the time, the only way to get meat was through American Army post exchange stores. It was something that became associated with the wealthy that could afford it, and it's remained that way. Budaejigae, or military stew, is a hugely popular dish that's part Spam, part kimchi.

In , the local Spam producer put 1. It's no secret that Spam lasts a long time, and that almost freakish longevity might be part of the reason people are sort of suspicious of it. Hormel actually recommends it be included in emergency preparedness kits, not just because of the long shelf life but because it's fully cooked and doesn't need to be heated.

It's not the only one of their products you can say that about, and they also recommend their Dinty Moore stew, their Chi-Chi's line, and their Hormel chili. Indefinitely, says Hormel ; "as long as the seal has remained intact, unbroken, and securely attached.

Eat By Date says Spam starts to go a little off after about 5 years past the date, and says that storing them in the pantry at around 75 degrees Fahrenheit will help extend the shelf life. Bottom line? Might want to restock your apocalypse kit every five years or so.

Future you will thank past you! Spam hit the shelves on the very nearly patriotic day of July 5, Since then, there's been some shocking numbers associated with them, starting with World War II. The Allied army ran on Spam, and according to Time , they sent around 15 million cans of Spam a week to the soldiers, to the tune of around million cans by the time the war was over. It's no wonder it was so closely associated with the war effort. After much dispute, the name Spam seemed perfect.

Most believe it to be a combination of the words spiced and ham, but the original product contained no ham. Hormel later added ham to the mixture because so many thought it was already in the product. Upon release the meat was not an instant seller, but Spam was touted for its value and convenience.

By , 40 million cans of Spam had been sold. Hormel supplied Allied troops with 15 million cans of Spam per week throughout the war. After the war, Hormel actively advertised the product, getting big names to sing its praises.

Plants overseas also began producing Spam. By , Hormel had manufactured its billionth can. By , the oz g can was joined by a 7-oz g can for single people and small families. Other innovations included Spam with cheese chunks and smoke-flavored product and Spam-Lite A major re-design of the label occurred in , and both the old and new version entered the Smithsonian.

The primary ingredient in Spam is chopped pork shoulder meat mixed with ham. This ratio varies according to ham and pork prices. The U. Department of Agriculture does not permit any nonmeat fillers in lunchmeat, nor does it allow pig snouts, lips, or ears.

The second ingredient is salt, added for flavor and for use as a preservative. Also, a small amount of water is used to bind all ingredients together. Sugar is also included for flavor. Finally, sodium nitrate is added to prevent botulism and acts as a preservative as well. It is the sodium nitrite that gives Spam its bright pink color—without it, Spam would discolor and become brown. Hormel would likely agree that Spam begins with quality pork and ham.

Hornel no longer supplies its own meat for Spam, but the company chooses the meat carefully. Meat-cutters who cut the meat from the ham carefully perform their tasks and throw the pieces into the appropriate gondola. Also, the huge hydrostatic cooker has an alarm that trips if the computer detects there is any problem with the batch. The workers must fix that problem within three minutes. If they don't, the entire batch's viability is in question. Portions of each batch are examined to make sure the batch has the right amount of pork shoulder to ham.