132 Acta argiculturae Slovenica, Supplement 5, 132–137, Ljubljana 2016
24th Int. Symp. “Animal Science Days”, Ptuj, Slovenia, Sept. 21st−23rd, 2016.
COBISS: 1.08
Agris category code: Q02
 
EFFECTS OF SALTING DURATION AND BOAR TAINT LEVEL ON 
QUALITY OF DRY-CURED HAMS
Tadej KALTNEKAR 1, 2, Martin ŠKRLEP 3, Nina BATOREK LUKAČ 3, Urška TOMAŽIN 3,  
Maja PREVOLNIK POVŠE 3, 4, Etienne LABUSSIERE 5, Lea DEMŠAR 6, Marjeta ČANDEK-
POTOKAR 3, 4, 7
Effects of salting duration and boar taint level on quality of dry-cured hams
 
1 Pršutarna Lokev na Krasu, Lokev 9, 6219 Lokev, Slovenia, e-mail: prsutarna.lokev@gmail.si
2 The study issues from the graduation thesis of Tadej Kaltnekar (supervisor prof. dr. Lea Demšar).
3 Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Hacquetova ulica 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, e-mail: martin.skrlep@kis.si, nina.batorek@kis.si, urska.tomazin@kis.si
4 University of Maribor, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Pivola 10, 2311 Hoče, Slovenia, e-mail: maja.prevolnik@um.si
5 INRA, UMR 1348 Pegase, 35590 Saint-Gilles, France and Agrocampus-Ouest, UMR 1348 Pegase, 35000 Rennes, France, e-mail: etienne.labussiere@rennes.inra.fr
6 University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Food Science and Technology Dpt., Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, e-mail: lea.demsar@bf.uni-lj.si
7 Corresponding author: e-mail: meta.candek-potokar@kis.si
ABSTRACT
Meat from entire males (EM) may take an important market share in the EU in case surgical castration is aban-
doned. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of salting regime and boar taint level on dry-cured ham 
quality. Standard (18 days, HS) and shortened salting (6 days, LS) was applied to 16 hams from 8 EM, being also evalu-
ated according to boar taint; low (LBT) or high (HBT). Compared to standard procedure, shorter salting resulted in 
40  % lower salt content, higher proteolysis, higher aw, softer texture, accompanied by lower sensorial saltiness and 
sourness and higher meat colour intensity, sweetness, bitterness, pastiness and off-flavour perception. HBT hams were 
more proteolysed, with softer texture, higher perception of bitterness, pastiness and juiciness with more pronounced off-
flavours and poorer typical cured odour than LBT hams. A significant interaction between boar taint level and salting 
on perceived off flavours denotes that either salt covers off-flavours or there are additive effects of boar taint substances 
and proteolysis products when salt content is low.
Key words: pigs, entire male pigs, meat, dry-cured ham quality, boar taint, salting regime
1 INTRODUCTION
Traditional dry-cured ham Kraški pršut is the most 
appreciated dry-cured meat product among Slovenian 
consumers (Čandek-Potokar and Arh, 2004). Appropri-
ate raw material quality is essential for high quality prod-
uct. For Kraški pršut, the origin of raw material is not 
prescribed, thus the producers are strongly bound to the 
supply of green hams from the European markets. Due to 
the initiative to stop surgical castration of piglets, it is ex-
pected that rearing of entire males (EM) will take signifi-
cant share in European pig production. Besides accumu-
lation of malodorous boar taint substances (skatole and 
androstenone) in fat tissue, EM deposit less fat (subcuta-
neous as well as intramuscular – IMF) and exhibit lower 
water holding capacity (WHC) of meat (Batorek et al., 
2012; Pauly et al., 2012) which may reduce dry-cured 
ham quality. Namely, poor WHC causes lower season-
ing yields and higher salt uptake, resulting in dry, firm 
and salty product with poor aroma (Čandek-Potokar and 
Škrlep, 2012). Proper amount of fat prevents excessive 
water loss and serves as a barrier for salt uptake, with IMF 
improving the development of typical aromatic and tex-
tural properties. Furthermore, EM exhibit higher protein 
deposition capacity, which could affect the proteolytic 
potential of EM meat and induce changes associated to 
the process of proteolysis during the lengthy dry-curing 
process (Toldra, 2002). As the information about the use 
of EM for dry-cured ham production is scarce, the aim 
of this study was to investigate the influences of such raw 
material on ham processing and final quality considering 
different salting regimes and boar taint levels.
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, Supplement 5 – 2016 133
EFFECTS OF SALTING DURATION AND BOAR TAINT LEVEL ON QUALITY OF DRY-CURED HAMS
Salting Boar taint p-value RMSE
HS LS LBT HBT Salting
Boar  
taint
Salting × 
boar taint 
Green ham traits
Ham weight (kg) 12.9 12.7 12.9 12.6 0.768 0.688 0.948 1.5
pH SM 5.49 5.47 5.50 5.46 0.664 0.305 0.492 0.07
Fat thickness (mm) 16 13 16 13 0.235 0.108 0.973 4
Processing losses (%)
Salting 6 days 2.0 1.9 1.8 2.1 0.856 0.182 0.871 0.5
Salting 18 days 3.9 - - - - - - -
Resting 20.1 20.0 19.2 20.9 0.990 0.207 0.976 2.5
Drying 27.6 27.2 26.4 28.3 0.809 0.234 0.944 3.1
Ripening 36.6 36.6 35.2 38.0 0.984 0.237 0.902 4.6
Table 1: Raw material traits and processing losses (LS means) according to salting duration and boar taint
HS – salting 18 days; LS – salting 6 days; HBT – androstenone content in subcutaneous fat > 0.78 µg/g; LBT – androstenone content in subcutaneous 
fat < 0.78 µg/g; SM – semimembranosus muscle; RMSE – root-mean-square error
Salting Boar taint p-value RMSE
HS LS LBT HBT Salting
Boar  
taint
Salting × 
boar taint
SM muscle
Salt (g/kg) 67.0 37.8 50.8 54.0 0.000 0.472 0.948 8.7
Dry matter (g/kg) 489.3 471.1 470.5 489.9 0.214 0.186 0.894 27.6
IMF (g/kg) 44.1 39.6 40.8 43.0 0.270 0.574 0.900 7.8
NPN (g/kg) 13.2 15.2 13.6 14.8 0.002 0.045 0.332 1.1
Proteolysis index (%) 22.1 25.3 23.1 24.3 0.003 0.183 0.283 1.8
aw 0.894 0.940 0.921 0.913 0.0001 0.397 0.919 0.017
BF muscle
Salt (g/kg) 77.4 45.8 58.9 64.4 0.000 0.217 0.813 8.4
Dry matter (g/kg) 405.5 389.4 390.5 404.4 0.139 0.198 0.895 20.3
IMF (g/kg) 29.1 30.3 29.9 29.5 0.634 0.874 0.874 4.6
NPN (g/kg) 13.7 15.6 13.8 15.5 0.034 0.048 0.659 1.5
Proteolysis index (%) 29.8 33.5 30.0 33.3 0.024 0.042 0.666 2.9
aw 0.895 0.937 0.920 0.912 0.000 0.227 0.815 0.014
Subcutaneous fat
Androstenone (µg/g) 0.97 1.01 0.65 1.32 0.846 0.005 0.885 0.39
Skatole (µg/g) 0.17 0.15 0.08 0.24 0.811 0.013 0.838 0.11
Table 2: Effect of salting duration and boar taint on chemical traits (LS means) of dry-cured hams
HS – salting 18 days; LS – salting 6 days; HBT – androstenone in subcutaneous fat > 0.78 µg/g; LBT – androstenone in subcutaneous fat < 0.78 µg/g; 
SM – semimembranosus muscle; BF – biceps femoris muscle; IMF – intramuscular fat; NPN – non-protein nitrogen; aw – water activity; RMSE – 
root-mean-square error
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, Supplement 5 – 2016134
T. KALTNEKAR et al.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
Green hams (n = 16; 12.8 ± 1.4 kg) from 8 crossbred 
boars fed commercial feed mixture were processed in 
a commercial facility according to the rules of consor-
tium Kraški pršut. Measurements of green ham weight, 
subcutaneous fat thickness and pH in semimembranosus 
(SM) muscle were recorded prior to salting at 2–4 °C for 
6 days (LS – shortened salting, right hams) or 18 days 
(HS – standard salting regime, left hams). After the salt-
ing, the hams were washed and left to rest at 4–6 °C and 
70–85 % relative humidity (RH) for 89 and 77 days for LS 
and HS, respectively. Following resting, the hams were 
left to dry and ripen (14–20 °C, 60–80 % RH) until reach-
ing the final processing age of 68 weeks. In order to mon-
itor processing losses, ham weight was recorded at the 
end of each phase. Boar taint substances androstenone 
and skatole were determined by HPLC (as described by 
Batorek et al., 2012) in samples of subcutaneous fat taken 
at the level of the last rib at slaughter and from the cen-
tral part of the ham at the end of the ripening. Chemical 
analysis (salt, total nitrogen content, non-protein nitro-
gen – NPN, proteolysis index – IP, IMF) and rheologi-
cal measurements (force decay coefficient, texture profile 
analysis) were performed in SM and biceps femoris (BF) 
muscle samples as described in Pugliese et al. (2015). 
Sensory analysis (quantitative descriptive analysis) was 
conducted with 11 trained panellists evaluating sensory 
descriptors on entire ham slice (marbling, colour homo-
geneity and intensity, typical cured odour), subcutaneous 
fat (whiteness, rancidity, sweetness, off-flavours) and sep-
arately SM and BF muscles (saltiness, acidity, sweetness, 
bitterness, off-flavours, solubility, juiciness, pastiness). 
Data was statistically analysed using GLM procedure of 
the SAS/STAT module (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA). 
The median of androstenone concentration (0.78  µg/g 
liquid fat) measured in subcutaneous fat of dry-cured 
hams was used to classify the hams into low (LBT; an-
drostenone < 0.78 µg/g) and high boar taint (HBT; an-
drostenone > 0.78 µg/g). This benchmark agrees with the 
level considered as threshold for sensorial perception i.e. 
0.5−1.0 µg/g fat (Walstra et al., 1999). Salting time, boar 
taint level, and their interaction were included as fixed 
effects. Differences between groups were considered sig-
nificant at p < 0.05.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Green ham traits were recorded due to their im-
portance for dehydration, salt intake and biochemical 
changes. No effect (p > 0.10) of salting regime or boar 
Salting Boar taint p-value RMSE
HS LS LBT HBT Salting
Boar 
taint
Salting × 
boar taint
SM muscle
Force decay coefficient 0.62 0.67 0.63 0.65 0.005 0.148 0.980 0.03
Hardness (N) 90.1 54.3 69.9 74.5 0.006 0.671 0.433 21.4
Cohesiveness 0.49 0.43 0.49 0.43 0.111 0.119 0.597 0.07
Gumminess (N) 54.2 24.0 35.2 43.0 0.008 0.426 0.143 19.0
Springiness (mm) 3.5 3.1 3.4 3.2 0.190 0.377 0.935 0.5
Chewiness (N) 191.4 77.7 128.3 140.8 0.009 0.737 0.226 72.7
Adhesiveness (N*mm) −2.4 −3.3 −2.1 −3.5 0.027 0.003 0.267 0.8
BF muscle
Force decay coefficient 0.68 0.71 0.69 0.70 0.083 0.890 0.980 0.04
Hardness (N) 42.3 25.8 38.7 29.3 0.004 0.067 0.931 9.3
Cohesiveness 0.51 0.41 0.52 0.40 0.029 0.016 0.841 0.08
Gumminess (N) 23.1 11.2 21.4 12.9 0.009 0.047 0.716 7.7
Springiness (mm) 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 0.892 0.964 0.102 0.7
Chewiness (N) 87.1 38.5 81.7 43.9 0.016 0.049 0.369 34.6
Adhesiveness (N*mm) −1.0 −1.5 −0.9 −1.5 0.188 0.127 0.299 0.8
Table 3: Effect of salting duration and boar taint on rheological traits (LS means) of dry-cured hams
HS – salting 18 days; LS – salting 6 days; HBT – androstenone in subcutaneous fat > 0.78 µg/g; LBT – androstenone in subcutaneous fat < 0.78 µg/g; 
SM – semimembranosus muscle; BF – biceps femoris muscle; RMSE – root-mean-square error
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, Supplement 5 – 2016 135
EFFECTS OF SALTING DURATION AND BOAR TAINT LEVEL ON QUALITY OF DRY-CURED HAMS
taint level was observed confirming that groups were 
equilibrated in terms of raw material properties (Table 1).
Reducing salting from 18 to 6 days led to 40 % salt 
reduction (in BF and SM; Table 2), and resulted in higher 
aw and proteolysis index (p < 0.05) in LS than HS hams, 
which corroborates inversely proportional relationship 
between salt content and protein breakdown (Martín 
et al., 1998). Proteolysis index in BF muscle of LS hams 
exceeded (in average) the level of 30 %, which has been 
associated with flavour and texture defects (Virgili et al., 
1995). Substantial salt reduction can be problematic also 
for product safety. LS hams in our study were microbio-
logically tested and were proven safe. However, average 
aw (SM and BF) was slightly above 0.93, a prescribed 
limit for dry meat products (UL RS, 59/2012). Salt reduc-
tion is positive for lower risk of cardiovascular diseases, 
but stability of such products may be compromised as 
high aw facilitates microbial growth (Bem et al., 2003) 
and thus lowers product shelf life. Notably higher NPN 
(both muscles) and IP (BF) (p < 0.05) observed in HBT 
than LBT can be explained with androstenone which re-
flects higher anabolic potential, higher protein turnover 
Salting Boar taint p-value RMSE
HS LS LBT HBT Salting
Boar  
taint
Salting × 
boar taint 
Entire slice
Meat colour uniformity 6.3 6.4 6.3 6.4 0.524 0.647 0.247 0.4
Meat colour intensity 5.0 5.5 5.2 5.3 0.032 0.667 0.205 0.4
Marbling 2.2 2.5 2.4 2.3 0.400 0.783 0.974 0.6
Typical cured odour 5.4 5.2 5.6 5.0 0.384 0.038 0.234 0.5
Subcutaneous fat
Fat whiteness 5.8 5.3 5.5 5.6 0.298 0.929 0.867 1.0
Fat sweetness 4.1 3.5 3.8 3.7 0.004 0.531 0.808 0.3
Fat off-flavour 1.0 1.3 0.9 1.4 0.254 0.081 0.330 0.4
Fat rancidity 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.6 0.642 0.974 0.822 0.5
SM muscle
Bitterness 0.6 1.3 0.8 1.1 0.001 0.053 0.114 0.3
Sourness 1.8 1.5 1.6 1.6 0.030 0.822 0.475 0.3
Pastiness 1.1 2.1 1.0 2.2 0.032 0.017 0.143 0.8
Sweetness 0.6 1.3 0.9 1.0 <0.0001 0.662 0.226 0.2
Saltiness 6.0 4.0 5.2 4.8 <0.0001 0.227 0.299 0.6
Juiciness 3.8 4.4 4.3 4.0 0.046 0.357 0.205 0.5
Solubility 4.9 5.2 4.9 5.2 0.251 0.109 0.182 0.4
Off-flavour 0.7 1.7 0.9 1.5 0.0001 0.006 0.071 0.3
BF muscle
Bitterness 0.7 1.3 0.8 1.2 0.001 0.014 0.227 0.3
Sourness 2.3 2.0 2.1 2.2 0.140 0.438 0.890 0.3
Pastiness 1.5 2.8 1.4 2.9 0.039 0.019 0.504 1.0
Sweetness 0.6 1.2 0.9 1.0 <0.0001 0.138 0.180 0.1
Saltiness 6.8 4.8 5.9 5.7 <0.0001 0.421 0.655 0.5
Juiciness 5.2 5.4 5.3 5.3 0.188 0.856 0.051 0.4
Solubility 5.2 5.2 5.0 5.5 0.952 0.019 0.177 0.4
Off-flavour 0.9 1.9 1.0 1.7 0.0001 0.002 0.014 0.3
Table 4: Effect of salting duration and boar taint on sensory traits (LS means) of dry-cured hams
HS – salting 18 days; LS – salting 6 days; HBT – androstenone content in subcutaneous fat > 0.78 µg/g; LBT – androstenone content in subcutaneous 
fat < 0.78 µg/g; SM – semimembranosus muscle; BF – biceps femoris muscle; RMSE – root-mean-square error
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, Supplement 5 – 2016136
T. KALTNEKAR et al.
and thus also increased proteolytic activity (Claus et al. 
1994). There was no effect of salting on the level of boar 
taint compounds. LBT was in average below and HBT 
above benchmark considered a threshold for sensory 
perception (Walstra et al., 1999).
Salting duration affected majority of evaluated rhe-
ological parameters (Table 3). Compared to HS, hams of 
the LS group had softer, less gummy and chewy texture 
(p < 0.05) with higher force decay coefficient (p < 0.10) 
in both investigated muscles, along with reduced cohe-
siveness (p < 0.05) and increased adhesiveness (p < 0.05) 
in BF and SM, respectively. Noted impacts are in line 
with chemical traits namely the effect of low salt con-
tent and higher proteolysis and/or aw on increased pro-
tein breakdown and consequently softer texture (Ruiz-
Ramírez et al., 2006). Considering the effect of boar 
taint, HBT had higher adhesiveness (p < 0.05) in SM and 
lower hardness (p < 0.10), cohesiveness, gumminess and 
chewiness (p < 0.05) than LBT hams. As in the case of 
salting regime, the effect can be related to differences in 
proteolysis observed between HBT and LBT groups.
Salting duration showed notable effect (p < 0.05) on 
a good number of investigated sensory traits (Table 4). 
Compared to standard procedure, shorter salting was as-
sociated with higher colour intensity (entire ham slice), 
lower saltiness, higher bitterness, pastiness, sweetness 
(BF and SM) and higher juiciness (SM) along with lower 
fat sweetness. In addition, higher degree of off-flavours 
was perceived in both LS ham muscles. While traits like 
saltiness and sourness perception can be related to the 
level of salt i.e. chloride ions (Buscailhon et al., 1995), 
other effects are most probably related to the differences 
in proteolysis. More intensive colour of LS hams could 
be explained by the higher level of stable red pigment, 
related to the degree of proteolytic degradation (Grossi 
et al., 2014). Other traits like increased pastiness, higher 
bitterness and off-flavour presence are indicating exces-
sive protein degradation, resulting in their structural 
breakdown as well as numerous free amino acids and 
short peptides, which can negatively affect sensory per-
ception (Virgili and Schivazappa, 2002). 
Regarding the association of boar taint level with 
sensory traits, both muscles of HBT group were evalu-
ated as more pasty and bitter with higher degree of off-
flavours in addition to higher BF solubility (p < 0.05) and 
off-flavour presence in ham subcutaneous fat (p < 0.10). 
Despite lipophilic nature of boar taint substances, the dif-
ference in off-flavour was much more evident in muscle 
(with low IMF) than fat tissue indicating that increased 
protein breakdown could be an important source of the 
off-flavours in HBT hams. Although a negative effect of 
boar taint substances on off-flavour perception could be 
anticipated, the effect of increased proteolysis may play a 
significant role in this case. 
An interaction between salting and boar taint (Ta-
ble 5) was observed for off-flavours in BF (p < 0.05) and 
SM (p < 0.10). In HS hams slightly higher score of off-
flavour perception in HBT than LBT was not significant, 
whereas in LS hams HBT had notably higher off-flavour 
score than LBT in muscle (p < 0.05) and in fat (p > 0.10) 
tissue. This indicates that either salt covers foreign fla-
vours when present in higher amounts (Breslin and 
Beauchamp, 1997) or there are additive effects of boar 
taint and proteolysis on products when the amount of 
salt is low. 
4 CONCLUSIONS
Substantial reduction of salting duration consider-
ably reduced salt content and affected other dry-cured 
ham properties, but not always in a favourable manner. 
Interestingly, higher boar taint level was associated with 
increased proteolytic activity, pointing out an additional 
issue for dry-cured hams, processed from EM meat, es-
pecially in combination with lower salt content. 
Salting HS LS p-value RMSE
Boar taint LBT HBT LBT HBT Salting
Boar  
taint
Salting × 
boar taint 
Off-flavour
BF 0.8a 1.0a 1.3a 2.5b 0.0001 0.002 0.014 0.3
SM 0.6a 0.8a 1.2a 2.1b 0.001 0.006 0.071 0.3
Fat 0.9 1.1 1.0 1.6 0.254 0.081 0.330 0.4
Table 5: Interacting effect of salting and boar taint on off-flavours in different dry-cured ham tissues
HS – salting 18 days; LS – salting 6 days; HBT – androstenone content in subcutaneous fat > 0.78 µg/g; LBT – androstenone content in subcutaneous 
fat < 0.78 µg/g; SM – semimembranosus muscle; BF – biceps femoris muscle; RMSE – root-mean-square error; a,b Means within a row with different 
superscripts differ at p < 0.05
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, Supplement 5 – 2016 137
EFFECTS OF SALTING DURATION AND BOAR TAINT LEVEL ON QUALITY OF DRY-CURED HAMS
5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge financial support of the 
Slovenian Research Agency and Ministry of Agriculture, 
Food and Forestry (grants P4-0133, L4-5521 and V4-
1417). 
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