NON-VOLATILE AND VOLATILE COMPONENTS OF ISTRIAN DRY-CURED HAM

The amount of non-volatile (total nitrogen, proteins, intramuscular fat, water, free fatty acids, free amino acids) and volatile components were compared for two groups of Istrian dry-cured ham (10 hams in each group) processed in the traditional Istrian manner but in the different ripening time (10 vs. 14 months). For the experiment, 20 raw hams were randomly selected from industrially bred hogs and processed without the rind and subcutaneous adipose layer but with the aitch bones. After all hams were subjected to processing under the same technological procedure, they were subjected to ripening at the same temperature, relative air humidity, air circulation rate and illumination in the ripening chamber. Half of the dry-cured hams were left to ripen four months longer. The extended ripening phase significantly affected the content of certain non-volatile and volatile components of the Istrian ham, but some of them were statistically significant. The content of total free fatty acids was lower in the hams with extended ripening, though the difference was not statistically significant. The content of free amino acids was higher with extended ripening, though the difference was not statistically significant. The difference in water content, protein content and intramuscular fat were also not statistically significant. For both groups of hams, a total of 40 volatile components above the headspace (HS) samples were identified, and differences detected in the percent of surface peaks of individual volatile components were statistically significant.