Abstract:

Twenty-four Boer goat hams were processed following the modern processing technics of dry-cured hams. The lipolysis and lipid oxidation in the goat hams were studied during the processing. The results showed that the moisture content and sodium chloride content in the goat hams, after twenty-day fermentation-ripening, are 48.86% and 10.41% separately. The saturate fatty acids content in the bicep femoris reachs the maximal level on the fortieth day of fermentation-ripening, while the unsaturated fatty acids content is at the maximal level on the twentieth day, and subsequently shows downtrend; The palm acid, stearic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid are the main fatty acids. Linoleic acid and TBARS reach the maximal on the twentieth day of fermentation-ripening, and then significantly decrease (p<0.05) during the process. All these explained that after forty-day fermentation-ripening the dry-cured goat hams have reached the basic requirements of experimental products. High-temperature ripening could accelerate the lipolysis and lipid oxidation, and during the ripening unsaturated fatty acids quickly are oxidized and flavour compounds are formed, at the same time, the oxidative indexes of dry-cured goat hams are effectively decreased.

Key words: goat ham, dry-curing, lipolysis and lipid oxidation, free fatty acids, TBARS