SENSORY PROPERTY RELATIONSHIPS TO CHEMICAL-DATA OF ITALIAN-TYPE DRY-CURED HAM

A trained sensory panel assessed 20 Italian-type dry-cured hams and the data were submitted to Generalized Procrustes Analysis. Results showed that aged, salty and acid tastes, as well as aged and fresh pork odors were the most important descriptors of this type of ham. Chemical analyses on the same samples, made up a set of 26 compositional or nonvolatile parameters and a block of 122 volatile components. Partial-least squares regression, applied to relate each taste attribute to non-volatile data and each odor term to volatile components, showed that the hams with highest acceptability scores had high levels of free tyrosine and lysine, (nonvolatile components) and of methyl-branched short-chain esters and alcohols (volatiles).