As market trends shift towards “clean labels,” the food industry is being forced to make significant efforts to reduce the number of ingredients in their products. Clean labels emphasize simplicity and transparency, pushing manufacturers to respond to consumer demand for more natural and fewer ingredients.
Contrary to popular belief, curing jamón requires more than just jamón and salt, as some claim was done traditionally. While it’s true that jamón can be made this way, as we mentioned a few weeks ago, for a long time now, “sal nitro” (today in the form of E-250 and E-252) has been added to the curing process. However, today we won’t focus on the presence of these two preservatives in jamón labels, but instead on another ingredient that, like fat and salt, has been declared a public health enemy: sugar.
¿Azúcar en el jamón?
Así es. El jamón necesita, para una correcta curación, de la presencia de azúcar en el inicio de su elaboración. Sin embargo, lejos de lo que pueda parecer, no se utiliza como ingrediente para endulzar el producto o rebajarle el punto de sal. Su función es meramente tecnológica, y os contamos el porqué.
El azúcar sirve de alimento para los microorganismos naturalmente presentes en la carne y que ayudan a transformar un simple músculo, en esa maravilla que es el jamón. En más de una ocasión os hemos mencionado los numerosos procesos bioquímicos que suceden durante la elaboración del jamón. Pues bien, todo ello comienza cuando añadimos la sal gruesa al jamón, acompañada de un preparado a base de sal fina, los mencionados conservantes, antioxidantes y algún tipo de azúcar. La sal ayuda a extraer el agua y limitar el efecto de las enzimas musculares -además de aportar sabor-, los conservantes, previenen el crecimiento bacteriano y colaboran en la formación del color rojizo, los anioxidantes dificultan la posible formación de nitrosaminas, y el azúcar, colabora en la acción microbiana que transforma la carne en jamón. Así que, efectivamente, el jamón lleva azúcar, pero… ¿como ingrediente?
Sugar in jamón?
Yes, that’s right. jamón requires sugar at the beginning of its curing process for proper maturation. However, contrary to what one might think, sugar is not used as an ingredient to sweeten the product or reduce its saltiness. Its role is purely technological, and here’s why.
Sugar serves as nourishment for the naturally occurring microorganisms in the meat, which help transform a simple muscle into the delicacy we know as jamón. As we’ve mentioned before, various biochemical processes take place during jamón production. This all begins when coarse salt is added to the jamón, along with a mix of fine salt, preservatives, antioxidants, and some type of sugar. The salt helps draw out moisture and limit the effect of muscular enzymes—while also adding flavor. The preservatives prevent bacterial growth and contribute to the jamón reddish color, antioxidants prevent the potential formation of nitrosamines, and sugar aids in the microbial activity that transforms the meat into jamón. So yes, jamón contains sugar, but is it considered an ingredient?
Ingredient or Processing Aid?
An ingredient can be defined as any substance (including food additives) used in the production of food that is present in the final product. A processing aid, on the other hand, is defined by the Royal Spanish Academy as “a substance not consumed as food itself, used in food production for a specific technological purpose.”
So, what is sugar in jamón an ingredient or a processing aid? The tiny amount of sugar added during the salting process, combined with its absence in the final product, classifies it as a processing aid in jamón production. According to current legislation, processing aids are not required to be listed as ingredients, although you might still find them in the nutritional analysis, albeit in very small quantities.
According to AESAN (Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition), “unlike additives, processing aids are not present in the final product, and thus, they are not considered food ingredients. As per Regulation 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, they are not included in the list of ingredients.”
To answer the question posed in the title of this article: yes, jamón contains sugar. However, the small amount added (remember, as a processing aid, not an ingredient) is so minimal that it leaves no residue in the final product. The sugar is consumed and transformed by the naturally occurring microorganisms in the meat to carry out their task. For this reason, it’s not required to be mentioned on the label. Whether listed or not, it’s there, but you won’t consume it in its original form when enjoying jamón, as it has disappeared thanks to the magic of biochemistry.