Characterization of a Lamb Ham: Fatty Acids and Volatile Compounds Composition

Abstract

The study presents and characterizes a little‐known product that is processed manually on the cottage industry scale. The product, called “violino” of lamb, is a cured and matured lamb thighbone of sheep of the Lamon × Bergamasca breed. The sheep graze on pasturelands, and the lambs are weaned at 60–70 days of age. They are then raised out in the field and the pasture feeding is supplemented with a commercial concentrate based on maize and soybean. At 7–8 months the lambs are slaughtered, and the thighs are cured with a curing mixture and ripened for 60 days. The study determined, on the fresh thighs, the proximate composition and fatty acid profile; and on the cured thighs (violino), the proximate composition, fatty acid profile and the volatile composition influenced by curing, salting and spicing. The results revealed the cured ham lamb to have a reduced fat content, a high polyunsaturated fatty acids/saturated fatty acids ratio and a high protein content. The processing, performed completely manually, resulted in a niche product that has the possibility of being produced on a bigger scale, which would favor breeders in that they would profit from being able to sell not just the fresh lamb meat but also a cured end‐product. Given the consumer demand for typical products, this lamb ham, known as lamb violino, could be a sought‐after product.

Evaluation of pre-rigor injection of beef with proteases on cooked meat volatile profile after 1day and 21days post-mortem storage

“…This included nine aldehydes namely 2-and 3-methylbutanal n-pentanal, hexanal, heptanal, benzaldehyde, benzeneacetaldehyde, octanal and nonanal. These aldehydes have been reported in cooked beef (Machiels et al, 2004) and lamb ham (Paleari, Moretti, Beretta, & Caprino, 2006). Aldehydes, in general, are not stable and can easily react with other compounds to produce compounds which have different flavours (Mottram, 1998).…”

Characterisation of Dry-Salted Violino and Bresaola from Grass-Fed Bergamasca Sheep

“…Usually, the main products derived from the sheep breeding are lambs, which are slaughtered for fresh meat production at around six months of age at approximately 45 kg in weight. Traditionally, the finest hind cuts of older sheep slaughtered at 80-90 kg are used for various types of cured, salted, and seasoned products, such as violino and bresaola [10].…”

Physicochemical changes during the different stages of dry cured lamb ham processing

“…Fenalår is another dry cured product produced in Norway (TOLDRÁ, 2014), with the particularity that it is made with mutton legs, and various mutton products have been developed in America (TOLDRÁ, 2014). However, there are few publications with respect to the physicochemical changes that occur during the processing of this kind of product (GANIĆ et al, 2013;TROEGER et al, 2009;KRVAVICA et al, 2009;OPERTA et al, 2010;STAMENKOVIĆ;DEVIĆ, 2006;PALEARI et al, 2006;STOJKOVIĆA et al, 2015;VILLALOBOS DELGADO et al, 2014). The aim of this study was to analyse the main physicochemical changes such as mass variation, salt and moisture content and the water activity in the different zones of the meat piece during the development of a dry cured lamb product.…”