Effect of wet-curing on physical properties and proteins of cured ham

Consuming enough protein is a very important part of a balanced and healthy diet. Complete proteins are those in which all essential amino acids are present. In meat products, like hams, many different reactions occur during ageing and storage. For example, the production of free amino acids or the production of biogenic amines is formed by decarboxylation. In this study, the presence of these amino acids and biogenic amines, as well as the quality properties of cured hams during curing and ageing, were investigated.The meat samples were immersed into 100 g L−1 NaCl brine. The curing took 20 days, followed by smoking and ageing for 35 days (12 °C, 75% RH). The wet-cured ham samples were analysed for changes in NaCl concentration (at 3 parts: surface, core, bottom layer). Moreover, color, water activity, denaturation temperature and enthalpy (Differential Scanning Calorimetry), free amino acids (FAAs) and biogenic amines (BAs) were also evaluated.