It probably was pumped full of so much water that it made it mushy...

Most hams today are "water added" I try to buy the ones that have the least added water, by percentage.
I buy those Farmland hams that they use for "deli sliced ham" for the church, and if there is more than I need I freeze the rest. When it's thawed it just pours water...and the resultant ham is much firmer...better to my taste.
I suspect they are over compensating for people who over cook a ham and it turns out dry that they add too much "solution".
Linda C

Did you buy a different kind of ham than usual? I read that people are more likely to rate ham as mushy when it's solution injected versus plain ham. I'd suggest you discuss this possibility with your husband and son, tell them that, in order to ensure that all future hams are to their standards, they'll be cooking Easter dinner next year.

I bought a spiral ham from Trader Joe's upon the recommendations here. It was delicious and the closest to an old fashioned ham that I've tasted for a long time. It had no nitrates and a bit of a honey type glaze, but not too much. If you have a tj near you, I'd really suggest one next time.

I've noticed that and it's a very disconcerting mouth feel to me. I think they're injecting with tenderizer so they're what people think is "tender". Apparently nobody has or knows how to use teeth these days.

I seldom buy ham anymore with the rare exception of some deli ham occasionally. I'm so sick of those things that they pass off as ham these days and often they're slopping so much snot, uh, "glaze" on them to try to compensate for the poor quality of the product. I wonder if they use a garden hose to "inject" them since people keep harping on "moist" that they lose sight of what they're cooking. A well-smoked ham doesn't need all that to taste good. But I realize, I'm in a very tiny minority who likes the taste of the meat itself over the coating. (sigh) Oh well, dat's da way it is.

I know some people pooh-pooh spiral cut hams, but I like them... the GOOD ones SIL always gets ham from Honey-Baked/Heavenly Ham stores... doesn't have that thick sugar glaze on it. She USED to get them bone-in and I ended up with the PRIZE (bone) to take home to make soup. Now she just buys LOTS of slices. Some think it's "expensive", but really about the same as nice stuff you'd buy at deli counter for sandwiches. It's always good.

Wish I had a Trader Joe's that was nearer to me so I could try out his brand. Closest store isn't "on the way" for about 90% of any errands I run. If I'm even remotely gonna be in that area, I end up stopping in.

My ham was the polar opposite of "mushy." It was ham jerky! And tasted awful. Fortunately, our guests had to bail out, so it was only me and DH.

I bought a Fresh Market Spiral Sliced Honey Ham. The directions said to cook it for 10 - 12 minutes per pound at 325 degrees, wrapped tightly in foil. I followed the directions exactly (and no, my oven isn't off. I check it frequently with a non-digital oven thermometer.) I know hams have a tendency to dry out, so I used the lowest time. After 90 minutes, it was shoe-leather, but shoe-leather would have been tastier. It is going out with the trash this morning!

Fresh pineapple. .....instead of canned. Ruined two spiral hams today. TOTAL MUSHY HAM PASTE except the very outside. .

Fresh pineapple

I have tried several varieties they all got mushy. sick of ruined Christmas dinners. I am going to a different meat next year. they never use to do this, obviously they are doing something different with the hams.

I bought a Smithfield smokehouse reserve ham and was very pleased. I had been buying country hams but didn't want to spend the extra money this year so I took a chance on something different. Easy to slice, not mushy. I don't like glazes on my ham so I skipped that but they did include a packet of glaze.

I tried making a ham in the crock pot. Thought I couldn't mess that up! I'm not a good cook but I'm trying. Total mush. Good to see I'm not the only one. Good to know it was probably the fresh pineapple

I've cooked lots of things in a crock pot that didn't turn to mush. I used to put whole frozen chickens or turkey hindquarters in mine when I left for work and turn them on auto cook (cooks on high for a couple of hours, then to low). They would cook 8 to 9 hours and were definitely tender, but not mushy and way more moist than roasting or some other methods. I would think the glaze (as others have said) or buying a ham with too much solution added would be the problem here (as well as the aforementioned fresh pineapple). There are many 4 and 5 star rated recipes and methods on the internet for cooking hams in a crock pot.

It was the fresh pineapple. My daughter made her first Christmas dinner today at her new home and she was so excited. She had to run to the store so I pulled the ham out and decided to have a taste. Omg it was like having flour in my mouth, complete mush. She was so upset like I told her it was your first dinner and I didn't know that fresh pineapple did this. I have always used canned because they are sweeter never used fresh and never will now. We had to go find somewhere open which no grocery stores were so we went to waffle house and got some steaks. We had all our sides with waffle house steaks lol. Something to talk about every year. Merry Christmas.

There’s an enzyme in pineapple that acts as a tenderizer on any meat you leave it on for a bit. Fresh and canned, it will tenderize whatever meat it spends some time with. :p

fresh pineappe IS NOT MAKING HAMS MUSHY. If you are adding fresh pineapple, covering the ham, and cooking it for a long time on a low temperature, you are effectively STEAMING THE HAM... mush! Annnnd, I believe it's due to all of the water that is already added to hams these days.

We had a spiral cut honey ham yesterday. It was wonderful. The instructions say it is best at room temperature but if you want it a bit warm heat it for 20 minutes at 275 for a half ham covered. I brought mine (10 lb) to room temp (on counter for 2hours) then heated it for the 20 minutes. It was a bit cool in the centre so could have used another 10 minutes. Lo temp is the key.

I was pretty sure that only fresh pineapple affected the protein in meat (and the gelatin in Jello) not canned. I looked it up and what I found confirmed what I thought: the enzymes in pineapple are destroyed at 158 degrees. Which is why you can use canned pineapple in jello but not fresh. So if you are cooking your ham to above 158 that would stop fresh pineapple's tenderizing properties, but it will affect the protein in the ham until it reaches that temp.

Bromelain

My Fresh Market spiral slices ham:

It was like eating mushy pasty flour! Im so dispointed with Fresh Market. Feel like our enviroment is going to make us sicker.

Missed having a Ham sandwich the next day. What the heck is going on with our produce and meats and pork lately?

I'd love to see what Annie will say about this! I get the occasional ham / slice /piece that's mushy and it's awful. BF bought an expensive fully-cooked ham slice the other day to have for breakfast and it had that mushy texture all through it. Pan-frying dried it out some, but the texture was still very soft and unpleasant.

What the heck is going on with our produce and meats and pork lately?

Well, with pork it probably has something to do with the fact that the Chinese pretty much control the pork industry in the US since they added Smithfield and its subsidiaries to their portfolio. You can be sure they are only concerned with the bottom line.

I mostly avoid pork products these days, unless they are locally and humanely produced, but I can't afford to buy much local bacon at $5 a strip.

Happened to me yesterday....Did you use fresh pineapple? If you did that's your cause for mushy ham. Like you our sides were amazing but the ham was not edible.......

I had some wonderful ham slices. I put some fresh pineapple on it with some cherries. I poured brown sugar and cloves, honey on it. After i cooked it. I took a taste and it was the most awful stuff i ever tasted. I had to throw it out. The Ham was mushy and it tasted awful. No fresh pineapple again on my ham.

Many spiral cut ham brands are just not so good. Since I get my ham from a local farmer, who never spiral cuts, I suspect for me this works a lot better.

Pineapple is well known as an extreme tenderizing entity. If you want pineapple with your ham, cook it separately, and combine them at the table.

Bromelain is the enzyme in pineapple that acts as a meat tenderizer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromelain

It's not always pineapple, though, because Mother bought a small boneless "ham", it was about a pound. I baked it for her and it was soft and mushy. I'd never experienced that before, but it was terrible, and she paid something like $8 for that little piece of mush. She thought she was buying a turkey "ham", but it was a Hatfield brand boneless sliced "1/4 ham boneless". I didn't glaze it with anything, as she dislikes glazed ham, just put it in a pan, covered it and baked it at 350F until it was heated through, as it was already cooked. She ate it, but my brother wouldn't and I don't blame him.

Annie

Mushy ham ==> probably over brining

Probably, but I didn't brine the ham, it would have to happen at the manufacturer level.

Annie

The last time we had ham, it was like it was pumped full of a diuretic. I was up every 2 hours all night long. Ham is off my dinner list now. I don't remember if it was mushy or not and there wasn't any pineapple on it.

Bought a Heritage Farms spiral cut Cheshire ham and the flavor and texture was wonderful. Highly recommend if you are looking for that old time taste and texture. (No connection, just love their pork).

Yes, Annie1992, I was guessing that maybe the meat company brined it.

???

Our hosts for Easter dinner served a spiral sliced ham that was very good. I don’t know the brand, but the texture was tender and firm. He said it came was a glazing “Kit”. What did you end up doing with yours?

I hope you and others here had a nice Easter. It was very humid and rainy. Still is. The black flies are hatched. Wet spring in New England.

my last ham I cooked was dry, so I thought to help it, I would use a turkey injector between slices. I usually just use a baster and put juices on top and karo syrup... so I'm thinking using the injector made it mushy. In conclusion, never inject ham like a turkey. lol

I have only once bought a spiral cut ham and it wasn’t mushy but dry and tasteless. No loss as I much prefer getting the ham on the bone anyway, as we love the pea soup afterwards.

all the spiral cut hams I have ever seen have been on the bone. The spiral cit just makes for easy serving.
In my experience the mushy or if you over cook, baconey hams are those that are "pre-cooked". They say ready to eat just heat and serve. The best hams in my opinion are those that have to be cooked to an internal temperature of 165. I like a cured ham not a heavily smoked ham, and frankly the less "processing" and solutions added the better your ham will be.

I buy my hams only from a local meat market. They do a spiral cut glazed (which is way too sweet) and a plain, no frills spiral cut. These hams are incredible...I do my own thing, the way I learned many years ago.... Dr. Pepper and brown sugar, a little bit of cloves, pack it in....never, ever mushy. I do, however, think it begins with the ham itself.

ABSOLUTELY! ITS AN ENZYME IN FRESH PINEAPPLE! COMBINED WITH BROWN SUGAR AND REAL BUTTER ITS THE PERFECT STORM TO DIGEST A HAM.we thought someone put cheese in the meat or it was bad..but it was just digesting in enzymes God it was awful.thank goodness I had more in the fridge.I. put pineapple and brown sugar no butter and took it with us we ate it within the hour so no problems.I should have known better because I use pineapple and strawberries for digestion and pineapple is an awesome anti inflammatory.

Well this was a mushy Thanksgiving, my ham was loaded with juice when I took it out of the wrapper, so I drain the extra liquid,but buy putting fresh pineapple made it worse. In the trash it goes thank you Costco. 28 dollars in the trash.

@Marcus Anselmo, your problem was the fresh pineapple, not Costco. As the post immediately before yours points out, fresh pineapple contains an ezyme that effectively digests meat and other proteins. You can’t set jello that has fresh pineapple in it, either. This enzyme is killed by the canning process which is why people use canned pineapple on hams if they use pineapple at all.

Yep, fresh pineapple did my ham in, it tuned to paste. it reminded me of a realistic cake without the sweetness. Lesson learned. 👌🏽2024