Effect of terroirs on the sensory characteristics of "Noir de Bigorre" dry-cured ham

International audience

English. In the 1930s, in France, there were more than 28,000 Gascon sows. At the beginning of the 1980s, there were only two boars and 34 sows. A plan to safeguard local breeds is then put in place by the French Ministry of Agriculture. This long work made it possible to save the Gascon breed in extremis. In 2017, the sector obtained two Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) “Noir de Bigorre”: one for the carcasses and another one for the dry-cured hams. In 2023, the Consortium “Noir de Bigorre” includes more than 60 Gascon pig farms and 3 cured meat producers. Annual production exceeds 10,000 dry-cured hams now. The geographical zone mentioned in the specifications with an area of approximately 4,000 km² is between 150 to 1,000 meters above sea level of the French central Pyrenees. This vast geographical area could be divided into several terroirs, which could influence the organoleptic characteristics of the PDO dry-cured ham.The characterization of the geographical area of PDO “Noir de Bigorre” dry-cured hams raises the potential existence of different terroirs, which could be the cause of perceptible differences in the finished product: PDO dry-cured ham. The identification of these terroirs requires the historical, climatological and topographical studies of the production zones belonging to the PDO area. Thus, three zones were highlighted by the literature: one in the Pyrenean foothills, one on the hillsides and one in the south of the Gers County. The aim of this work was to investigate the existence of these terroirs.In order to validate this hypothesis, a preliminary study was carried out using discriminant sensory analysis. Dry-cured ham from two of the three zones identified were assessed: Pyrenean foothills and south of Gers County. The samples were chosen to be representative of the PDO ham production: slaughtering of pigs between 12 and 24 months, maturation of dry hams between 20 and 24 months maximum. The hams were then sliced by an autosampling slicer (1.3 mm thick) and preserved under vacuum at 4 °C before the sensory evaluation. Two hams came from two pigs reared in a farm located in the Pyrenean foothills and two other hams came from two pigs located in a farm of the south of Gers County. The sampling consisted of 80 slices for each ham to perform the sensory evaluation using triangle tests of difference with a minimum of 18 panellists of the Laboratory of Agro-industrial Chemistry.The preliminary results demonstrated significant differences (α ≤ 0, 01) between dry-cured hams from two different “Noir de Bigorre” terroirs. Sensory profile and chemical analysis are currently underway to explore the organoleptic and biochemical properties of a more representative sample from the three PDO geographical areas using different “Noir de Bigorre” the pig farming techniques.