Abstract: The Xuanwei Ham is a traditional special local product of high quality in China. In this paper the physicochemicalproperties were detected and the volatile compounds extracted with simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) method andseparated and identified by GC/MS. The results indicated that the ratio of the finished product of traditional Xuanwei Ham was69.30%～73.60% and that the water content, salt content, aw, TBA and TVB-N of the Biceps femoris were 47.30%～50.0%, 9.1%～11.2%, 0.83～0.85, 0.50～0.70mg/kg and 46.50～55.55mg/kg respectively. The free amino acid content was 9040.45mg/100g dry matter in Biceps femoris. Seventy-five compounds were tentatively identified in the volatile fraction, of whichhydrocarbons 15, alcohols 9, aldehydes 22, ketones 6, acids 3, esters 7 and others 13. The technology of Xuanwei Ham showedthat the unique traits of Xuanwei ham resulted from the typical climate in Xuanwei, the Wujin pig, a kind of excellent local breedand the refined traditional operation skills of Xuanwei ham.

Key words: Xuanwei ham, quality, analysis