title: Accelerated processing of dry-cured ham. Part I. Viability of the use of brine thawing/salting operation.
abstract: In a previous study, the brine thawing/salting operation using frozen hams as raw material was proposed in order to obtain accelerated processing of dry-cured hams. The time needed to reach the same NaCl concentration on a dry weight basis and the same NaCl concentration in the ham liquid phase for the deeper areas at the end of the post-salting stage were determined. The aim of this work was to study the influence of the brine thawing/salting operation on the whole dry-cured ham manufacturing process, using the traditional thawing and salting methods as control. The obtained results indicate that although a strong reduction in the thawing, salting and post-salting stages is obtained by using brine thawing/salting, the time needed in the dry-curing and maturing phases increases compared to those traditionally processed, probably due to the absence of pile salting and thus the reduction in the thickness of the ham piece as a consequence of the ham pressing. From the composition and microbiological point of view, no significant differences were observed among the hams processed by the different treatments.
authors: Departamento de Tecnología de Alimentos, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain.
authors: José M
authors: JM
authors: Barat
authors: Raúl
authors: R
authors: Grau
authors: J B
authors: JB
authors: Ibáñez
authors: María J
authors: MJ
authors: Pagán
authors: Mónica
authors: M
authors: Flores
authors: Fidel
authors: F
authors: Toldrá
authors: Pedro
authors: P
authors: Fito