In our house, ham has always been the traditional Christmas dinner. There are lots of great ham glaze recipes around made with maple syrup, molasses, and other flavors of ham glazes. Martha Stewart did a great sounding one using apricot preserves on her show Friday. My mother used syrup and my grandmother used molasses. They both insisted on putting cloves, pineapple and cherries on the ham. I didn't care for any of it so I was hunting for something different when I left home.
In the early 70's I discovered a recipe for an orange glaze. It is simple and I love it. All you need is a small container of frozen orange juice concentrate and some brown sugar.
Mix equal amounts of both in a bowl and spoon it over the ham after scoring it (making light criss-crossing cuts around the outside). I cover the ham and make sure to push it into the score marks before baking then cover with foil and bake following the instructions on your ham. About 20 minutes before it is ready I remove the foil and cover the outside with another thick layer of the OJ and brown sugar.
Hint: I mix the glaze in small amounts. When I put the ham in the oven I put the leftover OJ back in the freezer. When I am ready to put the last coating on, the frozen OJ keeps the glaze thick and allows it to seep into the scoring cuts better before it melts and slides down the ham.
Happy Holidays
Linda B:)
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