460 Chapter 26
that many of the sensory components that
give dry - cured ham its unique fl avor could be
explained by a small number of volatiles.
These approaches have increasingly led to
the relatively new area of science called
“ chemometrics. ”
The developments described above give
some indication of quality - control proce-
dures that could be applied to dry - cured hams
that could lead the way to standardization of
the process. However, this may not be pos-
sible with the interest in PGI status (Protected
Geographical Indication status). So far, there
may well be a number of variations for stan-
dardized procedures in the preparations of
dry - cured ham. There already exists a proce-
dure for maturation after the drying stage.
Indeed, this is part of the traditional process
for Iberian ham.
Work by Cilla et al. (2005) investigated
the change in sensory attributes and con-
sumer acceptability of twenty - eight 12 -
month dry - cured hams obtained from four
different manufacturers (each supplied seven
hams) that complied with the specifi cations
required for “ Designation of Origin Teruel ”
(Boletin Ofi cial del Estado 1993 ). The
samples were greased with pork lard and
hung at 18 ° C and 75% relative humidity.
Samples, one from each manufacturer, were
assessed at 2 - month intervals for 12 months
of drying, except for 22 months, when the
next sample point was at 26 months.
Acceptability as assessed by the consumer
panel did not fi nd any signifi cant differences
between the 12 - and 26 - month hams. The
sensory panel found differences in accept-
ability after 22 months.
The sensory profi le indicated that aroma
was at a maximum around 18 months of
maturation, and fl avor and saltiness showed
results similar to aroma. Throughout the
maturation period there was no signifi cant
change in rancidity. The main changes that
occurred in the texture involved attributes of
hardness, crumbliness, pastiness, fi brous-
ness, and adhesiveness. Most of the changestiles and sensory attributes. In this study, 41
samples were obtained from several different
areas of France and Spain. The project was
designed to simulate the dry - cured ham vari-
ability that the consumer would fi nd in the
market place. The hams comprised 30 white
hams from different crossbreeds, eight
Iberian hams, and three Gasconne and Basque
hams. The curing time varied between ham
types, where the French hams were cured for
less than 12 months apart from the Bayonne
hams. The Spanish white hams were cured
for periods varying from 10 to 18 months,
and the Iberian hams cured for more than 18
months. A descriptive sensory profi le con-
tained 27 descriptors that were grouped into
appearance, texture, and fl avor. Nine - point
structured scales were used throughout this
study. An initial analysis comparing white
hams versus Iberian hams showed that for 17
sensory attributes, there were signifi cant dif-
ferences between the hams. Of these descrip-
tors, nine were related to odor or fl avor:
cured ham fl avor, rancid odor, acorn odor,
rancid taste, acorn fl avor, raw meat fl avor,
pungent fl avor, fat rancid fl avor, and fat
pungent fl avor. Relationships between
sensory attributes and volatile compounds
were then explored using a combination of
PCA analysis based on sample confi guration,
into which were mapped the concentration
values of the volatiles. This approach identi-
fi ed those volatiles associated with sensory
descriptors. Stepwise regression analysis was
then used to relate volatiles to specifi c attri-
butes. It was found that 70% of acorn odor
could be explained by benzaldehyde, 2 - hep-
tanone, and 3 - methylbutanol; 77% of acorn
fl avor by 3 - methylbutanal, hexanol, 3 - meth-
ylbutanol, and 2 - nonanone; 60% of rancid
odor by hexanal, pentanol, and hexanol; 82%
of rancid taste by 3 - methylbutanal, hexanol,
and octanol; 86% of fat rancid fl avor by
octanol, 3 - methybutanal, and limonene; and
78% fat pungent fl avor by octanol and limo-
nene. The integration of volatile data, sensory
data, and mathematical procedures showed