HYDROLYSIS AND MAILLARD REACTIONS DURING RIPENING OF IBERIAN HAM

Thirty-eight hams from Iberian breed were processed by the traditional dry-curing procedure. Active proteolysis and autooxidation occur during the first period, as revealed by the accumulation of peptide, nitrogen and carbonyl compounds. In the second step a strong increase in amino acid nitrogen was observed, whereas the content of all the aldehydes studied decreased notably. This could be due to condensations between carbonyls and free amino acids during the summer period. While hams were kept in the cellar, the overall increase of amino acid nitrogen was in contrast to the slow rate of accumulation of some individual amino acids. This was presumably due to degradation to volatile derivatives, where Maillard reactions could be involved.