Influence of type of muscle on volatile compounds throughout the manufacture of Celta dry-cured ham

The effect of muscle type on volatile compounds throughout the manufacture of Celta dry-cured ham was studied. Thirty Celta ham were taken from the fresh pieces, after the end of the salting stage, after 120 days of post-salting, after the end of drying-ripening stage, and after 165 and 330 days of bodega step. The volatile compounds from semimembranosus (SM) and biceps femoris (BF) muscles were extracted by using headspace-solid phase microextraction (SPME) and analysed by gas chromatographic/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Fifty-five volatile compounds were identified and quantified. The number of volatile compounds increased during the different steps of the process, reaching at 550 days of process 39 and 40 volatile compounds in SM and BF muscles, respectively. Results indicated that the most abundant chemical family in flavour at the end of the manufacturing process were esters in the two muscles studied, followed by aliphatic hydrocarbons and aldehydes. During the manufacturing process, an increase in the total amount of volatile compounds was observed, being this increase more marked in samples from BF muscle (from 550.7 to 1118.9 x 10(6) area units) than in samples from SM muscle (from 459.3 to 760.4 x 10(6) area units). Finally, muscle type displayed significant (P<0.05) differences for four esters, two alcohols, one aldehyde, one ketone and four aliphatic hydrocarbons.