PROTEOLYSIS AND LIPOLYSIS IN FLAVOR DEVELOPMENT OF DRY-CURED MEAT-PRODUCTS

Numerous proteolytic and lipolytic reactions are involved in the gener ation of flavour and/ or flavour precursors in meal and meat products. Most of these reactions are known to be due to endo-/exo-peptidases a nd lipases, respectively. The origin of these enzymes may be either fr om muscle and/or from microorganisms, although their relative relevanc e for a given meat product strongly depends on the manufacture and dis tribution. In this paper, the postmortem proteolysis and lipolysis is described with particular reference to dry-cured ham, a typical meat p roduct naturally ripened by endogenous enzymes. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.