Col's sliced ham is NZ's best

Col Drever's sliced ham has been judged the best in New Zealand. Photo/George Novak

Tauranga ham lovers, start your engines.

New Zealand's best sliced ham isn't at some big fancy Auckland deli or hipster Wellington organic butchery.

It's at Col's Butchery in Mount Maunganui, according to the judges of this year's New Zealand Pork, Bacon and Ham Awards.

Mr Drever said his gold award-winning entry in the boneless ham section was a new challenge after a win in the same competition last year.

"Last year we got a gold with the ham on the bone. So this year we thought, right, let's have a serious go at this."

A "serious go" meant a whack at the boneless ham section - more challenging because, with the bone removed, it was harder to make it hold together to look nice and be sliced without crumbling, Mr Drever said.

At the end of June, his team sent two 400g samples of sliced boneless ham to Auckland for assessment by the judges, and their win was announced in Christchurch late last month.

Mr Drever, who has been a butcher for 40 years and owned his Mount butchery for 23, was glad one of his products stood up against big stores with big reputations.

"We were pretty chuffed, we're only a small shop but we're pretty excited about what we do."

Mr Drever said he did not do anything special to the meat in his entries.

"It's just what we do every day of the year."

He reckoned he had a 25 per cen t increase in pork sales after word got around about last year's win, and this year he's prepared for the same.

"Oh we've loaded up a bit, made sure we had a lot in stock."

New Zealand Pork, Bacon and Ham Awards 2017

- 10th annual awards
- 50+ NZ retailers entered
- 223 entries submitted
- nine categories: five bacon, two ham, two pork
- for NZ-born and raised pork products