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Our deli crew can name families who have picked up the same ham from the same counter for more than thirty years — different kids in the truck each decade, same order at the register. Nobody keeps a tradition running that long out of habit alone. It survives because the thing at the center of it delivers every single time: warm and serve, guaranteed flavor, no drama between the oven and the table.
If you’re earlier in your ham career than thirty years, this is the whole education: Opa’s makes seven hams across three styles, every one fully cooked in the smokehouse, and the only real question is which style belongs at your table. Here’s how they differ, how to warm them right, and how much to buy.
Hickory: The Classic
The Bone-in Hickory Smoked Ham is the ham with nothing between you and the smokehouse — deep, savory smoke character and no sweetness anywhere, built for people who want their ham to taste like ham. It comes spiral sliced in half and whole sizes, and the whole can also come unsliced, for the table that likes to carve. The bone matters twice: once at dinner, and once more when it lands in a pot of beans.
Honey Glazed: The Centerpiece
The Bone-in Honey Glazed Ham is the table’s showpiece — savory first, sweet second, with a glaze that’s restrained rather than cloying. It’s the one that gets photographed, the one grandmothers nod at, and it warms up beautifully. Spiral sliced, half and whole.
Peppered: The Best Seller
And then there’s the one that outsells them both. The Boneless Peppered Ham is the boldest of the three — cracked pepper adding bite to the savory base, and the most versatile thing in the ham case. No bone to work around, easy to slice thin or thick, as good cold on a sandwich Tuesday as it is warm at Sunday dinner, and the natural anchor of a charcuterie board. It comes in three sizes: Holiday Ham (2–3 lbs), Half Ham (3–4 lbs), and Whole Ham (5–8 lbs). It’s the best seller for the simplest reason: it never stops being useful after the occasion ends.
Which Ham for Which Table
The honest sorting: Hickory and Honey Glazed are the centerpiece hams — bone-in, spiral sliced, built for the middle of a table, whether that table is Thanksgiving, Easter, a birthday that deserves a production, or the Sunday everybody drives in for. Peppered is the everyday workhorse — the one that lives a double life as dinner tonight and sandwiches all week. Plenty of households run both: a centerpiece for the gatherings, a Peppered in the refrigerator as standing policy. And none of the three checks the calendar first, which is the point of the last section below.
How to Warm a Ham Without Drying It Out
Every Opa’s ham is fully cooked, and here’s the first thing the official card says that surprises people: it can be served warm or cold. If you’re warming, the method comes straight from the smokehouse’s own instructions. Take the ham out of the refrigerator about an hour before it meets the oven. That head start is the juiciness secret. Preheat to 325°F, unwrap the ham into a roasting pan, add a third of a cup of water to the pan, and cover it with a foil tent. Then it simply heats until hot all the way through — about an hour for a whole ham, about thirty minutes for a half, and rests before carving. That’s the entire technique: the water and the tent keep the moisture exactly where the smokehouse left it, and the rest lets everything settle. No basting schedule, no anxiety — the flavor was finished before the ham ever met your oven. The boneless Peppered takes the same gentle treatment: the water, the tent, just until heated through.
How Much to Buy
The counter math: figure about half a pound per person for the boneless Peppered, and about three-quarters of a pound per person for the bone-in styles. The bone carries some of the weight. If leftovers are the point (and with ham, they should be), buy a size up. A Whole Peppered at 5–8 pounds feeds a dinner for ten with sandwiches to spare; a whole spiral handles the full holiday house.
Building the Plate Around It
Ham is generous — it makes everything around it look good. The proven table: scalloped potatoes, green beans, buttered rolls, German-style potato salad, roasted sweet potatoes. The Honey Glazed likes the savory sides best; the Hickory can stand next to something sweet; the Peppered gets along with absolutely everything, which is the whole point of it.
Ham Doesn’t Need a Holiday
That’s the quiet truth this whole guide has been circling: all seven hams are fully cooked and available year-round, because the people thirty years into the tradition figured out long ago that a ham in the refrigerator is a solved week, not just a solved holiday. The full ham lineup ships nationwide, cold-packed, and the case at the Fredericksburg deli carries them in person. Pick your style, warm it low, and start your own thirty-year run. The counter will remember your order.
Small batch. Craft made. German tradition — since 1947.
All three ham styles ship nationwide from opassmokedmeats.com, and holiday ordering is easier early: order by November 17 for Thanksgiving, December 15 for Christmas (see the full holiday ordering guide). Local? The Deli & Market at 410 S Washington St in Fredericksburg has the case, the counter, and the answers — Monday–Friday 8 AM–5:30 PM, Saturday 8 AM–4 PM · 830-997-3358.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Opa’s hams are spiral sliced?
The two bone-in styles (Hickory and Honey Glazed) both spiral sliced, in half and whole sizes. The whole Hickory can also come unsliced if you’d rather carve. The Boneless Peppered is not spiral sliced; it’s built for easy slicing any thickness you like.
Which ham is the best seller?
The Boneless Peppered — it’s the most versatile of the three, as much a sandwich and board ham as a dinner ham. The Hickory and Honey Glazed lead the occasion side of the case.
Are Opa’s hams fully cooked?
Yes, all of them, and they can be served warm or cold. Warming, per the official card: out of the refrigerator an hour ahead, oven at 325°F, a third-cup of water in the roasting pan, foil tent, heated until hot through — about an hour for a whole ham, thirty minutes for a half, then a rest before carving.
How much ham per person?
About half a pound per person for boneless, three-quarters for bone-in. Size up if you want leftovers, and you want leftovers.
Do the hams ship?
Yes — all three styles ship nationwide, cold-packed, from opassmokedmeats.com. For the holidays, order by the seasonal cutoffs (November 17 and December 15 this season).
Is ham only a holiday thing at Opa’s?
No — all seven hams are year-round. The Peppered especially earns a permanent spot in the refrigerator: dinner the first night, sandwiches the rest of the week.