On Food and Cooking

impurities, but not enough to affect ham
color. Recently, Japanese scientists found
that the stable red pigment of these hams is
not nitrosomyoglobin, and its formation
seems associated with the presence of
particular ripening bacteria
(Staphylococcus carnosus and
caseolyticus). And it may be that the
absence of nitrite is one of the keys to the
exceptional quality of these hams. Nitrite
protects meat fats from oxidation and the
development of off-flavors. But fat
breakdown is also one of the sources of
desirable ham flavor, and nitrite-free
Parma hams have been found to contain
more fruity esters than nitrite-cured
Spanish and French hams.
The Alchemy of Dry-Cured Flavor Some of
the muscles’ biochemical machinery survives
intact, in particular the enzymes that break
flavorless proteins down into savory peptides
and amino acids, which over the course of