Quality characteristics of a dry-cured lamb leg as affected by tumbling after dry-salting and processing time

• We prepared dry-cured lamb legs using 3 different tumbling treatments after salting.
• Selected quality traits of legs at three points of the ripening stage were evaluated.
• Ripening time shows a relevant effect on chemical and microbial composition of legs.
• Tumbling affects legs pastiness and can contribute to leucine Strecker degradation.

The aim of this study was to evaluate selected quality characteristics of a dry-cured lamb leg with different tumbling treatments after salting. The characteristics were measured at different processing times. Three batches of dry-cured lamb legs (nine legs per batch) were prepared with no-, short- and long-tumbling treatments, and microbial counts, NaCl, aw, proximate composition, pH, free fatty acids, water soluble nitrogen, volatile compounds, texture and colour were evaluated at days 1, 22 and 71 of processing. Furthermore, a descriptive sensory analysis (flavour and texture) was performed in the final product (day 71). Time-related changes were observed for most of the characteristics studied. The effect of tumbling was only observed for the sensory attribute pastiness that was higher in tumbled legs. Methyl-branched butanal was only detected in tumbled legs.