ABSTRACT
The origin of dry-cured meats is lost in ancient times. They probably originated when primitive man used salting as a useful preservation tool for times of scarcity. Since then, knowledge has been orally transmitted from generation to generation through the centuries. As a consequence, processing was very empirical and technology received little attention. It was in the second half of the 20th century that the numerous chemical and biochemical changes taking place during processing received increased attention and thus, scientific and technical literature started to be
published (Flores and Toldrá 1993; Toldrá 1992; Toldrá, Flores, Navarro, Aristoy, and Flores 1997). These advances had rapid applications in processing technology and resulted in sensible improvement in the quality of the final product (Toldrá 2002).
