Valorizzazione e salvaguardiadei prodotti tradizionali: caratteristiche fisiche, chimiche e aromatiche del salame S. Angelo IGP per la caratterizzazione e certificazione di prodotto

The Salami S. Angelo is the oldest Italian pork sausage. Recently this product has obtained by the European Union (G.U.C.E. 2007/C 289/17) the IGP certification mark. In order to characterize this Sicilian product, a study was carried out on 17 "S. Angelo IGP" salami called "sottocularino", of 515g of weight after 55 days (±7) of seasoning, and prepared according to the disciplinary of production of the "Consorzio di tutela del salami S. Angelo". The salami were sampled from the 5 of 7 food industries belonging to the "Consorzio di Tutela del Salame S. Angelo". The physical, chemical and sensorial characteristics of this product were studied. The central part of each salami was sliced, and, on each slice, the colour, the tenderness and the elasticity were determined. Moreover, on each sample homogenized, the pH, the chemical composition and the sensorial characteristics were analysed. The colour of the muscular part showed a red index (a*) of 20,16±2,04, whereas, the yellow index (b*) of the fat was 15,78±1,67. The tenderness was 0,405±0,06 N/mm2 and the elasticity index was 0,09±0,006mm. The mean value of the pH was 5,99±0,15. The chemical composition, expressed in g per 100g of edible part, showed good values of humidity (35,97±2,56g), high values of crude protein (32,02±1,75g), low values of fat (23,03±2,36g) as weel as of NaCl (3,91±0,44g). Fortyfive volatile compound were identified and quantified; the number of identified compound for each class and the incidence of the classes on the aromatic composition were: n.21 terpenes (52,11%), n.5 ketones (24,42%), n.8 alcohols (13,68%), n.4 acids (2,19%), n.2 aldehydes (0,16%) e n.5 miscellaneous (7,44%).