Factors influencing the incidence of pale, soft, exudative (PSE) pork have been extensively studied, and several excellent reviews have been published (Briskey, 1964; Forrest, 1965; Sink, 1965; Zobrisky, 1965). However, only a limited amount of work has been conducted on the effect of PSE condition on processing characteristics of pork. Wismer Pedersen (1960a, b) studied the effect of exudative pork on curing and canning characteristics of hams and found that the watery pork was generally less desirable for processing than normal pork. Sayre, Kiernat and Briskey (1964) reported that fresh PSE pork had slower cooldng rates, higher evaporative cooking loss and was less tender than normal pork. More recently, Kemp et al. (1968) found that fresh ham quality was related to the quality of dry-cured hams and Kemp, Moody and Fox (1969) found that the PSE condition resulted in significantly lower yields of both bacon and commercially cured hams. This study was designed to compare certain physical~ chemical, histological and organoleptic properties at various intervals during curing and aging of dry-cured hams having low, medium and high quality scores.