CHEMICAL AND SENSORY PROPERTIES OF TYPICAL ITALIAN MEAT PRODUCTS; CULATELLO

摘要

The traditional Italian culatello is known for its sensory properties, which stem from the use of heavy legs and a long dry curing period. This study, conducted on cu-latelli divided into three classes of age (11 months, 12-16 months and 18-24 months)indicates that at just 1ì months of dry curing the product displays a lean fraction composition similar to that of 400-day-old typical ham, with a steady moisture/protein ratio <2 and a salt/moisture ratio > 10%. Culatelli with longer dry curing timespresent, in addition to a lower water content and greater proteolysis, an enhancement of some characterising sensory properties, such as intensity of colour, aroma and firmness of the lean fraction; on the other hand, such defective traits appear as colour anomalies (crusts, fading rings) and a yellowish cover fat. The latter parameter proves correlated (P<0.05) to the linoleic acid content of the muscle fat, which suggests the importance of using raw materials of limited unsaturated fat ratio. The cholesterol content (81.7 mg/100 g) and that of muscle fats (7-11%) are in agreement with the levels of proximate composition components in the course of dry curing, associated with weight losses greater than 30%.