Shrinkage, Palatability and Chemical Characteristics of Dry‐cured Country Ham as Affected by Skinning Procedure

ABSTRACT 60 hams of approximately number 3 quality (Wisconsin Score) were divided into three groups of 20 hams each. Group 1 was unskinned, group 2 was normally skinned and group 3 was fully skinned. All hams were processed by standard dry‐cure procedures and weighed at each processing step. 30 hams, including 10 from each group, were evaluated organoleptically and tested for peroxide values, salt content and moisture content, after 1 months’ aging and the remaining 30 after 3 months’ aging. The skinned hams had significantly higher skinning loss, shrinkage, salt content and shear values than the normally skinned or unskinned hams. The unskinned hams had the highest tenderness scores and lowest shear values and salt content. The normal skinned hams were scored highest for flavor. Overall eating satisfaction and rancidity values appeared to be unaffected by skinning.