Physicochemical changes during the different stages of dry cured lamb ham processing

• Main Authors: Adriana Isabel Rada Bula, William Albarracín Hernández, Manuel Fernando Ariza Botero
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto de Tecnologia de Alimentos (ITAL) 2017-07-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Food Technology
• Subjects: Salting; Post-salting; Drying - ripening
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-67232017000100437&lng=en&tlng=en

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the main changes that occur during dry cured lamb ham processing using lamb shanks (Dorper × Camuro crossbreed). For this purpose the physicochemical parameters were evaluated in each stage of the process (salting, post-salting and drying-ripening) at different test times, testing after 0.7, 1.0 and 1.2 days/kg in the salting phase; 0, 15 and 30 days in the post-salting phase; and 3 and 6 months in the drying-ripening phase. Each analysis was carried out in different zones of the meat piece (zone A near the lean meat; zone B near the bone; zone C near the fat covering; zone R as a mean). The results suggested that the salting times had a similar behaviour on the physicochemical parameters. The 0.7 days/kg phase showed the same value reported for this kind of product. In the post-salting stage there were significant differences between the times tested. A chemical balance was found as from day 15, when similar salt contents were found, indicating homogenous values for the salt concentration between each zone. Finally, the drying-ripening results showed there were no significant differences for each physicochemical parameter between the times evaluated, but there were significant differences with respect to the beginning of the process.