Flavor Characterization of Three Major Dry-Cured Hams in China Based on Intelligent Sensory Evaluation and Artificial Sensory Analysis

The aroma and taste of Jinhua,Xuanwei,Rugao hams of different ripening time were studied by sensory evaluation combining with electronic nose and electronic tongue. The results of sensory evaluation showed that,meat flavor,pickled flavor and fat flavor were the characteristics aromas of three kinds of hams,two and three years of hams had stronger meat and curing flavor,while the acidity of one-year hams were more obvious. Principal component analysis(PCA)results of electronic nose and electronic tongue data demonstrated that different hams could be distinguished well. The aroma profiles of one-year hams were obviously different from that of other years,while aroma of Jinhua hams were similar to two-year and three-year Xuanwei hams. The soft independent modeling class analogy(SIMCA)was applied to establish the identification model of dry-cured ham,and the hierarchical identification model which selected the best ham from three producing areas as the standard sample,could effectively identify the other hams. The results showed that the change of ham flavor at different ripening time showed a certain rule,and the intelligent sensory analysis could be used for fast and effective grade identification of ham.