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My grandmother always cut off the ends of the ham when she would cook it. My mother would always cut off the ends of the hams when she would cook it. I assumed it had something to do with juices going out or spices getting in.

My grandmother's cousin still lives in the old country, no phone or internet. I travelled there to solve the mystery.... it took thousands of dollars and days of travel. Finally I met my grandmother's cousin, they grew up together, surely she would know. I asked, "Why do we cut the ends off of the hams?"

The answer was, "Because the pan your great grandmother would use was too small..." The ham wouldn't fit, so she had to trim it.

The moral of the story is, sometimes we don't know why we do things, lol... just do them that way because that's the way they've always been done.

People cover up the certification # because of security. People can look up the number on NGC's website