ABSTRACT
The origin of dry-cured ham is lost in ancient times, when humans used salting as a useful preservation tool for times of scarcity. The evolution of this product has followed a traditional route over the centuries, with oral transmission of the techniques involved from generation to generation but it was produced very empirically, with a rather limited knowledge of the process technology (1,2). In the last decades of the 20th century, rapid advances in the scientific knowledge of the chemistry, biochemistry, and microbiology involved in the process were made (3); this knowledge prompted successful developments in technology and significant progress in quality standardization.
