SURRY, Va. — Sam Edwards learned the art of curing country hams growing up here on the banks of the James River, from his father and grandfather before him. They taught him the secrets of salt and hickory smoke, and how to know when the meat is just the right shade of mahogany, ready to be aged like fine bourbon or wine.
As the president and cure master of Edwards Virginia Smokehouse, the company his grandfather founded in 1926, Mr. Edwards, 59, has turned those lessons into haute cuisine. Food critics say his finest dry-cured aged ham rivals European classics — prosciutto from Italy, jamón Serrano from Spain. “Surryano,” Mr. Edwards called it — a clever marketing riff that brought rural Surry County a whiff of foodie fame.
But two weeks ago, Edwards Virginia Smokehouse burned to the ground, in a spectacular conflagration that erupted while workers were on their lunchtime break. The fire caused no injuries, but it has left this close-knit community in shock, destroying a business that is deeply embedded in local lore and depriving rural Surry County of one of its largest employers outside the local nuclear plant.
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