124
ssf for foods and beverages
flavor compounds are identified from different dry- cured hams and
the major difference lies in the quantity of each volatile (Huan et al.,
2003; Gilles, 2009).
5.2.2.2 Proteins, Peptides, and Amino Acids Degradation of proteins
during the process also plays a significant role in determining the
quality of dry- cured ham. Although the progress may vary accord-
ing to specific conditions including salt content and processing time,
proteolysis mainly contains the three following steps: the initial deg-
radation of major myofibrillar proteins, generating intermediate- size
polypeptides and leading to changes in texture; the production of small
peptides and free amino acids through further degradation of poly-
peptides, d