Dry-cured ham

In a follow-up study by the same research group, this methodology was used to investigate the effects of different pig rearing systems on the quality of the final product of dry-cured Iberian ham. In this work, a switchable reagent ion source was used to generate H3O +, 

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G. Parolari, L. Gabba and G. Saccani, Extraction properties and absorption spectra of dry cured ham made with and without nitrate. Meat Sci. 64 (2003) 483-490. 

MC Aristoy, F Toldra. Deproteinization techniques for HPLC amino acid analysis in fresh pork muscle and dry-cured ham. I Agric Food Chem 39 1792-1795, 1991. 

Low-molecular-weight peptides play an important role in the flavor intensity of meat and beef broth (27b). A beefy meat peptide isolated of beef imparts desirable sensory properties and has potential as a flavor enhancer in heat-processed foods (27c,d). Peptides released in dry-cured ham during processing were evaluated by HPLC and related to the ham flavor formation (27e,f). 

Some of the studies on salt are, no doubt, complicated by the fact that salt may contain metal contaminants, which could serve as catalysts of lipid oxidation. Nevertheless, rancidity may still develop in the fat of dry cured hams, even though salt with a low metal content is used (27). The use of an antioxidant in combination with sucF salt, however, did inhibit rancidity and improve flavor scores. Further work to clarify the role of salt in lipid oxidation is needed before its mechanism is fully understood. 

Figure 21.6. Scanning electron micrograph showing the structure of 8 month dry-cured ham. Maginification 4150x. Voyle and Toldra. (1987, unpublished).

The binding of sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins extracted from post-rigor pork muscle, and from 7- and 12-months dry-cured hams with volatile compounds such as 3-methyl-butanal, 2-methyl-butanal, 2-pentanone, hexanal, methional and... 

Aristoy, M.-C., and Toldra, F. (1995). Isolation of flavor peptides from raw pork meat and dry-cured ham. In G. Charalambous, (ed), Food Flavors Generation, Analysis and Process Influence, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 1323-1344. 

Flores, M., Perez-Juan, M., and Toldra, F. (2006). Generation of volatile flavour compounds as affected by the ehemieal eompounds present in different sections of dry-cured ham. Eur. Food Res. Technol. 222, 658-666. 

Gianelli, M.P., Flores, M., and Toldra, F. (2002). Analysis of volatile compounds of dry-cured ham using different solid-phase mieroextraction (SPME) fiber coatings. J. Sci. Food Agric. 82, 1703-1709. 

Parolari, G., Virgili, R., and Schivazzappa, C. (1994). Relationship between cathepsin B activity and compositional parameters in dry-cured hams of normal and defective texture. Meat Set 38, 117-122. 

Andres, A.I., Cava, R. and Ruiz, J. (2002) Monitoring volatile compounds during dry-cured ham ripening by solid-phase microextraction coupled to a new direct-extraction device,/. Chromatogr. A, 963(1-2), 83-88. 

Hinrichsen, L.L. and Pedersen, S.B. (1995) Relationship among flavor, volatile compounds, chemical changes, and microflora in Italian-type dry-cured ham during processing,/. Agric. Food Chem., 43(11), 2932-2940. 

Flavor is an outstanding characteristic of dry-cured ham. The odor-active compounds of this product have been recently identified, and these data have shown the great importance of both lipid and amino acid derived compounds. To obtain samples with odor characteristics similar to those of dry-cured ham, several temperatures were applied to meat samples, and a mild temperature was selected. Compounds previously identified as dry-cured ham odorants were researched by SPME-GC-MS, and the effect of several factors on them was checked. The increase of sodium chloride content caused a general increase in aldehydes, except for 3-methylbutanal. The addition of sodium nitrite caused a general decrease, specially in straight-chain aldehydes. The addition of cysteine and proline on the odorants identified was less important. Reaction time influenced the odorants, with a marked effect on pentanal and hexanal. 

Flavor is one of the most valuable characteristics of dry-cured ham (i, 2), a valuable non-cooked but ripened pork meat product from southwestern European countries, and dry-cured ham flavored products are also appreciated. The great interest of dry-cured ham flavor has lead to an extensive research on this topic. The first works on the compounds involved in dry-cured ham flavor were... 

Aldehydes are by far the most numerous compounds identified as dry-cured ham odorants, with different odors (green, rancid, toasted) and thresholds in air ranging from 0.09 to 480 ng/L (Table 1). Most of them were identified in the first works focused on dry-cured ham volatile compounds (7,2). Aldehydes are essential for meat flavor (70), but large quantities in meat and meat products have been related to lipid oxidation and deterioration (77). The effect of several quality factors has been researched and it was found that the rearing system of pigs (S) and ripening conditions (7) influence on the contribution to odor and the content of some aldehydes. 

Ketones contribute to ham flavor with a wide range of notes and odor thresholds (0.03-1300 ng/L) (Table 1). In dry-cured ham, some of these ketones are affected by the rearing system of pigs (S), processing conditions (7) or microbial spoilage (73). 

With regard to acids, odor thresholds are relatively large (except for 3-methylbutanoic acid) and usually appear at such concentrations that allow the identification by usual GC-MS. In fact, a large number of acids has been reported in numerous works focused on ham volatile compounds (7,2), although most of them have not been reported as dry-cured ham odorants. An increase in acids have been reported in spoiled hams (73). 

Table 1. Odorants found in dry-cured ham (Parma and Iberian ham) ...

The aim of this work was to study the influence of salt content, the presence of sodium nitrite, the addition of cysteine or proline, and the reaction time on the most abundant compounds identified previously as dry-cured ham odorants of meat samples. 

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis was performed on an HP 5890 series II chromatograph (Hewlett-Packard) coupled to an HP 5973 mass spectrometer (Hewlett-Packard) and equipped with an HP-5 capillary column (50 m X 0.32 mm i.d., film thickness = 1.05 mm, Hewlett-Packard). The injector was maintained at 270 C. After injection, oven conditions were as follows 35 C for 10 min, 7 C min-1 to 150 C, 15 C/min to 250 C, 250 C for 10 min. The transfer line to the mass spectrometer was maintained at 280 C. Mass spectra were generated by electronic impact. A solution of n-alkanes (C5-C18) was analyzed under the same conditions to calculate lineal retention indices (LRI). Compounds were identified by comparing mass spectra and LRI with those of reference compounds analyzed under the same conditions. Only the compounds identified that were previously described as dry-cured ham odorants (6, 7) were taken into account. 

Among the different temperatures tested initially (4,25 and 95 °C), 4 C was chosen on the basis of odor characteristics. The higher temperatures (25 and 95 C) yielded samples without similarity to dry-cured ham odor. The odor of samples at 4 C showed some of the characteristics of dry-cured ham, although in... 

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