## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Changes in Physicochemical Parameters during the Production of Smoked Dry-Cured Ham  
During dry-cured ham production, intense biochemical reactions take place, resulting in significant changes in physicochemical composition. These changes are the result of proteolytic and lipolytic activities [25]. In (Table 1), the physicochemical parameters in two muscles (BF and SM) during the production process of smoked dry-cured ham, Dalmatinski prsut, are presented. As can be seen from the obtained results, the chemical composition of the muscle types BF and SM was significantly affected during different stages of the production process. The water content decreased in both BF and SM muscles from 74.82 and 74.42% in the raw ham to 56.78 and 42.54% in the final product, respectively. The decrease in water content was slower in the BF muscle than in the SM due to the different position in the ham: BF is covered with skin and subcutaneous fat and therefore water evaporates more slowly in contrast to the SM muscle. There were significant differences (\(p\) < 0.05) between the muscles at all stages of the production, except for the raw ham. Dehydration was more intense during the ripening phase, due to the duration of this phase as well as the environmental conditions (higher temperature and lower relative humidity). As shown in (Table 4), both muscle (M) and the production phase (P) and their interaction (M \(\times\) P) significantly (\(p\) < 0.05) affected the water content during the processing of smoked dry-cured ham. Intramuscular fat (IMF) was influenced by M, P, and their interactions (M \(\times\) P) (Table 4). It significantly decreased from an initial value of 5.54 and 6.00% to 2.57 and 5.55% of dry matter (DM) after the smoking phase for BF and SM muscles, respectively. IMF content significantly increased after the drying and ripening phase, resulting in a higher content in SM (14.86% of DM) than in BF (12.45% of DM) at the end of the process. The higher IMF content that was found in SM over BF was also found in other types of dry-cured ham [14]. Higher IMF content in the final product was also found in Jinhua ham [26]. The fat content in this study was higher than those reported for Bayonne (3.5%) and Corsican (5.3%) hams [27]. Different fat contents are a consequence of the differ ent breeds of pigs and the different feeding systems [28]. Moreover, IMF content is the parameter that most influences the appearance, texture, and flavor of dry-cured ham [29]. A significant (\(p<0.05\)) decrease in protein content was observed in both muscle types during the production process: from an initial value of 88.19 and 89.54% of DM in raw ham to 69.16 and 74.72% of DM at the end of the process in BF and SM, respectively. Similar results were also observed in other types of dry-cured ham such as Celta [8]. This decrease in protein content could be the result of the drying process, leading to a decrease in the percentage of protein in the total solids content of the samples. Furthermore, decrease of the protein content probably occurred due to the absorption of NaCl after salting and subsequent diffusion in muscles during processing, resulting in a lower NaCl content in BF muscle in the initial stages of production and a higher content at the end of the process [8]. A significant (\(p<0.05\)) decrease in protein content was observed in both muscles after the salting stage, and it was more pronounced in SM muscle due to its external position and greater exposure to environmental conditions. Compared to studies on other types of dry-cured ham, the protein content in BF is lower than in SM muscle [8]. A decrease in protein content is also observed after the smoking phase, but this is due to NaCl diffusion in the BF, as cold smoking has no effect on protein content in dry-cured ham. A study supporting this by [PERSON] et al. (2009) [30] concluded that different smoking methods had no effect on protein content in BF of dry-cured ham.