A tentative characterization of white dry-cured hams from Teruel (Spain) by SPME-GC

Forty-six volatile compounds were identified and quantified in four parts (subcutaneous fat, and biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles) of 41 samples from Spain, France and Italy. The Univariate Brown–Forsythe test was used to determine the volatile compounds from each part of the ham that can distinguish the hams of Teruel from Iberian and white hams. Stepwise linear discriminant analysis was used in-tandem to refine the most discriminating volatile compounds. Six compounds (2-propanone, butanol, 3-methylbutanol, 3-methylbutanal, hexanal and limonene) were able to distinguish the dry-cured hams from Teruel, Iberian hams, and French and Spanish white hams simultaneously. MDS was also applied to the volatiles selected by SLDA. Information on the series of volatiles and individual compounds is also displayed.