Green Ham Research Articles

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid from extruded linseed influences the fatty acid composition and sensory characteristics of dry-cured ham from heavy pigs1

Twenty-four barrows (78.1 +/- 1.7 kg of initial BW) were fed a control diet (2.5% sunflower oil) or an experimental diet containing 5% whole extruded linseed. Both diets were supplemented with 170 mg of vitamin E/kg of feed. At slaughter (160 +/- 9.2 kg of BW), 6 hams were collected per group and delivered to Stazione Sperimentale per l'Industria delle Conserve Alimentari of Parma for seasoning. There was no effect (P > 0.05) of diet on the physicochemical characteristics of dry-cured ham. The linseed diet increased (P < 0.05) the content of n-3 PUFA in trimmed fat (green ham), semimembranosus muscle, subcutaneous adipose tissue, and the whole slice (dry-cured ham). Moreover, there was a decrease in the n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio from 12 to 3 in all of those tissues. In contrast, the greater alpha-linolenic acid content in linseed caused an increase in the iodine value of green hams to a value that is not accepted by the Parma Ham Consortium. A sensory consumer test indicated that linseed-enriched dry-cured ham had the least acceptance score for odor, taste, and overall acceptability descriptors. These data suggest that the use of extruded linseed for pig feed is an acceptable way to improve the nutritional quality of long-cured pork products but could be limited by negative effects on the sensory characteristics of dry-cured ham.

Green Eggs and Ham: The Behaviour and Economics of Lawyer's Choices of Law in International Sales Contracts

This paper analyses lawyer's choices of law in international sales contracts. It identifies key reasons for opting in or out of the CISG across different jurisdictions. The paper then examines aspects of this choice from economic and psychological perspectives: from the ability to externalize costs, the psychology of choice of law decision making by lawyers, to game theory and group behaviour theory to predict future trends in choices across jurisdictions.

Green Eggs and Ham [Ethically Speaking

Green Eggs and Ham [Ethically Speaking

A Neat Specimen

Printed ephemera can be beguiling evidence of historic foodways. An ad for an English food merchant from 1880 uses language that blurs its time of origin. It shows familiar terms, such as "American cheese," but others, such as "green ham," that signal its antiquity. Because ads and other bits of throwaway graphic design are usually tied to brief, transitory events, they express their time succinctly and offer many paths for food historians to follow. This ad leads to investigations about what foods were popular in 1880 England, the terms used for them, the differences between city life and country life, and the rapid changes in food production at the end of the nineteenth century.

Biochemical changes during processing of traditional Jinhua ham

Jinhua ham is the most famous traditional meat product of China and one of the most famed dry-cured hams in the world. Its processing consists of six stages: green ham preparation, salting, washing and sun-drying and shaping, ripening, and post-ripening. Intense proteolysis and lipolysis occur during processing period. As a result, the content of free amino acids in final ham products is 14–16 times that of green ham, and 191 volatile compounds have been identified during processing, which make a major contribution to the flavor of Jinhua ham.

Changes in Zn-porphyrin and proteinous pigments in italian dry-cured ham during processing and maturation

Substitution of iron with zinc in myoglobin during maturation of Parma ham to yield zinc porphyrin extractable by 75% vol/vol acetone/water solution and detectable by fluorescence spectroscopy, was found to occur concomitant with protein modification in myoglobin. The content of zinc porphyrin increases throughout the whole processing and maturation of Parma ham, from I fl 0.1 ± 0.06 for green ham to I fl 84.4 ± 48.8 for fully matured Parma ham. In an aqueous extract of Parma ham with pH 6.0 protein alteration in myoglobin, as detected by size-exclusion chromatography, is initiated during the resting period following salting and seems to precede formation of zinc porphyrin. During maturation the results indicate that the modified myoglobin could undergo polymerization, and it is suggested that initial protein denaturation or degradation facilitates substitution of iron with zinc. The pigment polymerization may be a result of non-covalent protein association to zinc porphyrin in denatured or partly degraded myoglobin.

Changes in flavor compounds of dry-cured Chinese Jinhua ham during processing

Sixty experimental Jinhua hams were processed by a traditional method using green hams from local Liangtouwu cross-bred pigs. Samples of Biceps femoris were taken from five hams randomly at each of the key stages of production, i.e., green ham, end of salting, end of sun-drying, middle of loft-aging, end of loft-aging, post-aging-1 and post-aging-2. Analysis of flavor compounds showed 89 compounds at the green ham stage and at the end of salting, 90 at the end of sun-drying, 91 at the middle of loft-aging, 96 at the end of loft-aging, 93 at the post-age-1 and 94 at the post-age-2. The flavor compounds could be clustered in the following chemical families: alkanes and alkenes, aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, oxygenous heterocycle compounds, nitrogenous compounds, sulphur compounds, chloride compounds, amides, and terpenes. During processing, the concentrations of aldehydes and carboxylic acids increased; while the concentrations of alcohols, ketones, alkanes, alkenes, aromatic and cyclic hydrocarbons decreased. Sulphur compounds and pyrazines were formed and increased continuously during processing. In the final Jinhua ham, the contents of aldehydes, carboxylic acids, alcohols and ketones were 45.07%, 18.39%, 13.93% and 9.00% of the total flavor substances, respectively. The first principal component was a group dominated by five unbranched aldehydes; the second principal component was a group dominated by five branched and unbranched alcohols, two branched ketones, toluene, hexane and 4-nitrophthalamide. The two principal components explained 90.6% of the total flavor variance in Jinhua ham.

Lipolysis in dry-cured ham maturation

Thirty light Parma hams were tested for muscle lipolytic activity (acid and neutral lipase activity) and free fatty acid (FFA) amounts in M. semimembranosus and biceps femoris, during progressive phases (0, 3, 6, 10 months) of dry-cured ham manufacturing. No correlation was found between the activities of acid and neutral lipases in fresh M. semimembranosus, while during processing the activities were positively related ( p<0.1), probably due to effects of muscle composition changes on lipolytic activities. In each processing step tested, acid lipase activities were higher in the M. semimembranosus than in the M. biceps femoris, and FFA amounts varied accordingly, the only exception being for the very dehydrated 10-month old M. semimembranosus, which yielded lower FFA than in the corresponding M. biceps femoris. FFAs in the end product correlated positively with acid and neutral lipase activities of green ham, suggesting that FFA production could be influenced by both raw meat properties and muscle composition during processing.

Lipolysis and oxidation in subcutaneous adipose tissue during dry-cured ham processing

In southern countries where the consumers eat the adipose tissue of ham slices, adipose tissue contributes to the typical flavour of ham. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in lipids of subcutaneous adipose tissue during dry-cured ham processing. Lipid hydrolysis and oxidation were followed in the adipose tissue of 30 hams (by groups of six) at different stages of processing (green ham, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months). The results showed that: (1) Adipose tissue of the green ham contained 89.7% triacylglycerols, 5.6% water and low amounts of free fatty acids (FFA) (0.1%), diacyl- and monoacylglycerols (traces). The main triacylglycerols were di-oleoyl-palmitoyl glycerol (POO) (36.6%), palmitoyl-stearoyl-oleoyl glycerol (PSO) (19.9%) and palmitoyl-oleoyl-linoleoyl glycerol (POL) (8.0%). Free fatty acids had a higher proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids than triacylglycerols (17.7% vs 8.3%). (2) An intense lipolysis occurred during the first 6 months and continued at a slow rate up to 24 months. The amount of triacylglycerols decreased from 89.6 to 75.8% while FFA, diacyl- and monoacylglycerol amounts increased to reach 10.5, 4.5 and 1.3%, in the 24 month old hams, respectively. A preferential hydrolysis of triacylglycerols POO, POL and OOL was observed. Free fatty acid composition showed a sharp decrease in linoleic and stearic acids and an increase in palmitic acid. The decrease in linoleic content during the process suggested that this fatty acid acid was oxidised. Both lipolytic and oxidative changes in lipids of adipose tissue could affect its sensory traits, particularly colour and taste.

The effect of green ham pH and NaCl concentration on cathepsin activities and the sensory characteristics of dry‐cured hams

The effect of green ham pH and NaCl concentration on cathepsin activities and the sensory characteristics of dry‐cured hams

The effect of green ham pH and NaCl concentration on cathepsin activities and the sensory characteristics of dry-cured hams

There is a tendency to reduce the amount of NaCl in the manufacturing process of Spanish dry-cured ham. NaCl, pH and temperature determine the stability of this product. This study was concerned with the evaluation of green ham pH and sodium chloride concentration on cathepsin activities, physico-chemical parameters and sensory characteristics of dry-cured hams. Two different amounts of salt (55 and 80 g kg−1) and two different pH levels (pH at 24 h post mortem <5·8; pH at 24 h post mortem >6·2) were used. Physico-chemical composition, cathepsin activity and a number of sensory parameters were evaluated. Hams with high pH displayed lower cathepsin activity, NPN, saltiness and hardness whereas the levels of brightness, crumbliness, pastiness and adhesivity were found to be higher than in normal hams. A high level of salt produced greater cathepsin B and B+L activity and lower pastiness and adhesivity than the samples with a low NaCl level. © 1998 SCI.

Lean colour of green and matured Parma hams: Comparative evaluation and technological relevance of sensory and objective data

Research has been conducted on the relationship between sensory evaluation and objective measurement of pork colour. The study also investigated the relationship between the colour of fresh meat and the colour of matured hams. Sensory evaluation was carried out at 24 h post mortem on the freshly cut surfaces of green hams trimmed for Parma ham production. Objective measurements were performed at the same time on Semimembranosus and Biceps femoris muscles with a Minolta Chromameter Reflectance II CR200/08. Cold carcass weight, lean content, trimmed ham weight, 45 min and 24 h post mortem pH of Semimembranosus muscle were also recorded. The hams were processed according to Parma ham technology. Weight losses at standard processing times were collected. At the end of processing a sample of about one-third of the hams was evaluated for internal lean colour and lean firmness both by sensory panel and objective measurements. Proximate composition was also determined. The results showed highly significant relationships between colour sensory scores and the coordinates L ∗, b ∗ and hue of the C.I.E. L ∗a ∗b ∗ colour system. Among the other parameters measured on fresh meat only 24 h pH was related at a very significant level with sensory and objective colour values. Correlation coefficients were generally higher for Semimembranosus than Biceps femoris. Matured ham colour was linked with fresh meat sensory judgements, L ∗ , hue and a ∗ values. The relationship, though, was not sufficiently strong for use in predicting the colour of matured hams from green ham characteristics. Processing appears to have a positive effect on the colour of pale meat. Weight losses were mainly linked with lean meat content; other quality attributes being less important. Lean firmness of matured hams was related to the colour and pH of the fresh meat.