Identification of tasty compounds of cooked cured ham: Physico-chemical and sensory approaches

• Published in: Developments in Food Science Vol. 40; pp. 195 - 205
• Main Authors: Valentin, J., Guillard, A.S., Septier, C., Salles, C., Le Quéré, J.L.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: 1998
• ISBN: 9780444825902; 0444825908
• ISSN: 0167-4501
• DOI: 10.1016/S0167-4501(98)80046-0

Tasty compounds from meat have not been studied in depth. The aim of this work was to isolate, identify and quantify tasty compounds from cooked cured ham and to link them to the sensory evaluations of the fractions from which they are extracted. The extraction of the water-soluble fraction from ham was done by an hydraulic press. The crude extract was ultrafiltered and both gel filtration and nanofiltration allowed to obtain edible fractions. Some links between the physicochemical and sensory data have been found, in particular, the umami taste was related to the presence of IMP and monosodium glutamate. The direct influence of proteolytic peptides on this taste is discussed. Moreover, the nanofiltration appears useful to remove salts from the extract but this technique needs to be optimized for a particular study of ham peptides.