We are a small, family-run business and producing high quality products is a process that cannot be rushed. We appreciate your business and hope you find our products worth waiting for! Thank you,

Special Holiday Notice

Due to the increased demand for Benton’s Country Hams any orders placed after December 12, 2009 will not be delivered until after December 25 or maybe not until the first week of Janurary 2010.

Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams are slow cured using salt, brown sugar, and sodium nitrite and typically aged 9-10 months, though hams are available 1 year and older. This time-honored practice dates back to the era of our forefathers, when the preparation and preservation of meat was a way of life and sustenance. Although the hands of time and technology have sculpted many aspects of our modern world, at Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams we have upheld the traditional dry-curing process and are striving to produce world class country hams and bacon.

Our business was started in 1947 by the late Albert H. Hicks, a dairy farmer who began curing and selling country hams out of a building in his backyard. Allan Benton, a former high school guidance counselor, took over the business in 1973 and relocated it to the present location on US Hwy 411 near Madisonville, TN. Out of this modest, painted block building, Allan Benton and his employees have honed the dry-curing of hams and bacon into a culinary art and have catapulted the products from a simple breakfast mainstay into the world of gourmet cooking, where they have been praised for their characteristic flavor. Most recently, Benton’s prosciutto, a domestic version of the renowned prosciutto specialty hams of Parma, Italy, has grown rapidly in popularity and has been featured in a broad spectrum of high-end restaurants, as well as in a number of magazines and other food publications.

Benton’s Country Hams and Bacon are available either unsmoked or hickory-smoked. Hickory smoking is performed in a small, wood stove smokehouse behind the business, imparting a distinct smoked flavor that many customers prefer. Our products make excellent gifts and can be shipped anywhere in the United States. We invite you to try some today!