I boiled up a couple of salty ham hocks yesterday and made an enormous pot...HUGE I tell you...of bean soup.
Just cover with water....lots of water.... easily 6 quarte....and simmer away. Add a couple of chopped onions, a few ribs of celery a couple of carrots and about 2 pounds of dry beans, soaked in boiling water for a couple of hours.....some black pepper, simmer for a couple of hours until the beans are very soft and you have delicious stuff....serve up with corn bread!

Include the fatty bits and the gristle....lots of good stuff in there. You can skim any grease later....but likely there won't be much.

This may be an old wives' tale, but I have heard that adding raw potato to the broth and simmering for a while will make it taste less salty... I've never tried it, tho.

Raw potato really doesn't absorb much salt. What's worked best for me is to add more (unsalted) liquid or other ingredients, depending on what you're making.

I hack the large bone in two, so that the marrow can get into the broth. I very seldom make ham broth, but when I do, I do not use ham that has been salted - I use a pork butt/shoulder instead.

I do save pork fat for making tamales, but I prefer duck fat.

Boil the devil out of that ham bone.....if it's too salty, dilute later. But I am betting it won't be too salty if you add lots of water. and beans will absorb some of the salt.

I agree with Linda.... bean soup! And her advice is right on.

I usually buy smoked pork shanks to make soup, but will deffinitely use a ham bone if available. If I buy a ham for a crowd the kids know one of them (at least) gets to take the rest home.... except for that bone.

Now I'm hungry for Ham Bean Soup. I see a trip to the Market tomorrow.

I make a large pot of ham broth (bone, veggies, etc.), strain it and either can or freeze it by the quart. Always have broth for soup. One large ham bone will make around 6 quarts of broth.

I have both chicken soup and chili to eat up and also the makings of white bean and greens soup on hold, so bean with ham will have to wait. I'm thinking I'll just make up a lot of the broth and then freeze and use as a base later . . .

Wrap the ham bone and freeze that.....boil it up later.

Ditto what lindac92 just wrote. I have two ham bones in the freezer, packaged for a 'soup later' rainy day. In fact, its rare that I don't have ham scraps, a bone, or leftover ham in my freezer. Bean soup, scalloped potatoes with ham, pasta fagioli...

I agree. Save the freezer space that broth takes up. At the beginning of lockdown mid March, I ordered a big bag of chicken backs and beef bones. Wrapped tight in packages for future broth. (I did make a batch right away)...made more broth as I had extra celery, leek tops, carrots, onions.

I also purchased a ham that had a good decent fridge date and tackled that in small packages for soups, frittatas, etc. Wrapped the bone tight and made stock a couple months later. Takes the pressure off to save a chore for later or when desired....snow day pleasures. Fresh batch of warm soup.

Maybe a bit odd?, but I learned this method for whole hams from an x-boyfriends Filipino mother 40 years ago. Soak the whole ham in 2-3 rinses of cold water in a stock pot. Third rinse overnight in the fridge. (or a cooler with ice packs if fridge space is limited). Fresh water next day with aromatics. (bay leaves, peppercorns, etc). Bring up to a simmer, then 1/2 hour. Drain and oven roast whole for a crowd, or a few slices roasted for just us for that nights meal. The rest goes in packages for the future once cooled. Freezer packs.

Similar to prepping salt cod. A shocking amount of salt is removed. Just enough salt removed but not shocking. We are very sensitive to salt not using much daily.

Sleevendog, that's what I always did with corned beef for St. Patrick's Day. My husband was on a low sodium diet, and loved having a hot corned beef dinner. So I soaked the corned beef a couple of days, changing the water at least once each day. I usually cooked it in a slow cooker, and once it was actually simmering, I'd drain and start over again with the spice pack. By the time it was done, it still tasted of corned beef but was not overly salty. He could have a big serving without suffering later with swollen feet and gurgley lungs.

That soak and dump the water and soak and dump...preboil and dump is what you do for a "country ham"...like a traditional dry smoked ham. I haven't seen one in years. Hames we get are usually just cured and sometimes a little smoke too....but the days of long hanging in the smoke house seem to be gone.
Alas.....I had all sorts of "soupy things" in my freezers, but all went by-by during the week without power after that horrible derecho that hit the midwest.

I would do as Linda said and make a stock with the bone, any bits of fat and gristle, add water, onion, celery, carrots and garlic and simmer. Then refirgerate and skim the fat. For freezing, I'd reduce it to save space and add water later. I make bean soup with the stock and veggies; use dried beans and simmer until tender. I find a little bit of diced tomato in the bean soup helps cut the saltiness.

I love bone-in ham. I made one earlier this summer and gave the bone away to an organization that makes food for the homeless. They were thrilled. I don't like ham, pea soups etc. I'm always unsure what to do with the broth so I dump it out in the garden :-)

I love simmering the ham for a few hours and adding in potatoes and green beans. Or simmering it, drain and slather some sauce on it and bake it, Jacques Pepin style.

Yes, Jacques Pepin simmers a 'city' ham. What is found in your grocery.

I buy half ham shanks. The smallest I can find, which aren't all that small :-)

Here is Jacques recipe.

Jacques Pepin Glazed Ham

I was just thinking by soaking or rinsing I would defeat the flavor part of making it for soup. But it is seriously too salty. I have enough ham "condiment" serving packs in the freezer to last at least a year now . . .