Proteolysis
Also known as Amino acid decarboxylase negative, Aminopeptidases, ATP derivatives, Calpains, Carboxypeptidases, Cathepsins, Dipeptidases, Dipeptidylpeptidases, Essential amino acids, Exogenous enzymes, Free amino acids, Hydrolyzates, Leucine, Methionone availability, Micro-structure, Muscular proteases, Myofibrillar proteins, Of amino acids, Of peptides, Organic acids, Peptides, Propanoic acid, Propionic acid, Proteases, Proteasome, Protein fragmentation, Protein quality, Proteins, Pyruvate, Ribonucleotides, Sarcoplasmic, Stromal, Structure, Substrate level phosphorylation, Transamination, Tripeptidylpeptidases, Tryptophane
The slow breakdown of proteins during ripening, by the meat's own enzymes and by microbes. It softens texture and releases the peptides and amino acids that build deep, aged flavour.
Proteolysis is the gradual dismantling of the meat's proteins as it ages, and it is central to why a long-cured product tastes the way it does. It is carried out both by enzymes native to the muscle, the cathepsins, and by enzymes from the ripening microbes, working slowly over weeks and months.
Its effects are texture and flavour. Breaking down the muscle proteins softens a dry-cured ham from tough to yielding, and the peptides and free amino acids released are the building blocks of savoury, aged taste. In very long cures the free amino acid tyrosine can even crystallise into the white specks prized in a well-aged ham.
Because it is slow and time-driven, proteolysis is a process of the Foundation. It is the reason time is not merely waiting but active transformation, and why hurrying a cure costs flavour as well as safety.
Temple element. Foundation