Lipolysis
Also known as Lipolytic and proteolytic activities, Oxidative enzymes
The breakdown of fats into free fatty acids during ripening, by tissue and microbial lipases. It supplies much of the aroma of aged charcuterie and the raw material that oxidation later acts on.
Lipolysis is the fat counterpart to proteolysis: the breaking of fats into free fatty acids by lipase enzymes, from the meat itself and from the ripening microbes, especially the yeasts and moulds. It runs quietly through a long cure.
Those free fatty acids matter twice over. Many are aromatic in their own right and contribute much of the nutty, savoury depth of aged salami and ham. They are also the substrate that lipid oxidation acts on, so lipolysis and oxidation are linked: a little builds flavour, too much tips into rancidity.
Like proteolysis, it is slow and belongs to the Foundation. Together the two are the quiet chemistry of ripening, the reason a properly aged product tastes of more than its ingredients.
Temple element. Foundation