High pressure applied to frozen ham at different process stages. 1. Effect on the final physicochemical parameters and on the antioxidant and proteolytic enzyme activities of dry-cured ham

This paper describes the effect of high pressure (400 MPa and 600 MPa) applied to frozen hams at early stages of the dry-cured ham process: green hams (GH) and hams at the end of the resting stage (ERS), on some physicochemical parameters and on antioxidant and proteolytic enzyme activities in the final product. No significant differences were observed among treatments either in the drying kinetics or in the physicochemical characteristics. However, when high-pressure was applied to frozen GH hams it produced a superficial denaturation that affected salt absorption and, consequently, the proteolysis index. The high-pressure treatment applied during the processing of previously frozen GH and ERS hams reduced the antioxidant enzyme activities slightly (superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase) but did not affect the cathepsin B and the cathepsin B + L activities.