## 3 Results and Discussion
### Instrumental Measurement of Color and Texture of Smoked Dry-Cured Ham  
The color of dry-cured ham is one of the most important appearance characteristics and influences of consumer choices when purchasing sliced dry-cured ham [32]. Table 2 shows the color parameters of smoked dry-cured ham during the production process (L*a*b*) of BF and SM. The L*, a*, and b* values were significantly affected by both the muscle and the production stage, while their interaction affected the L* and a* values (Table 4). The processing effect was more pronounced in the SM muscle. BF and SM muscles are submitted to different conditions during the dry-cured ham process. BF is covered with the skin and thick layer of fat (internal muscle) and SM muscle is superficial with no fat cover (external muscle) [8]. Therefore, SM is more exposed to environmental conditions due to its external position and thus affects the color parameters, especially the L* value. Lightness (L*) depends on the moisture movement (dehydration) towards the surface [32] and decreases throughout the production process. This decrease is directly related to the water content. Other authors found that water loss increases the concentration of pigments and leads to a decrease in L* value. It is also found that L* values decrease with increasing salt concentration [32] which is in agreement with the results of this study and other studies for Istrian and Iberian dry-cured ham [23; 33]. The a* values were significantly higher (\(p<0.05\)) for the BF muscle than for the SM in the raw ham and in the ham after the drying and ripening phase, showing that BF had a more intense color than the SM muscle. The a* value was associated with intense drying of dry-cured ham [4], so this may be the reason why higher a* values were found in BF, due to significant differences in water content between the two muscles. Finally, b* values decreased with increasing processing time, and the decrease was more pronounced after the smoking stage (Table 2), where the differences between muscles were significant, and this trend continued until the end of the production process. This is also comparable to the results obtained in other types of dry-cured ham [32; 34]. Changes in color parameters were also observed in other types of dry-cured hams such as Celta ham, where BF had higher L*, a*, and b* values than the SM muscle in the last phase of production [8]. Other authors found the same trend in Teruel dry-cured ham [34]. The L*a*b* values of BF and SM determined in this study showed the same trend as in Iberian dry-cured hams [4]. The texture of dry-cured ham has a major impact on the product quality perception of consumers and is determined by proteolytic degradation that occurs during dry-curing. The relationship between proteolysis and texture during the process of dry-curing is well established [9], and salting and ripening have been reported as two stages with the greatest influence on proteolysis and consequently meat texture [35]. Table 3 shows the changes in texture profile analysis (TPA) parameters of BF and SM of smoked dry-cured ham during the production process. Cohesiveness was the only TPA parameter not significantly (\(p>0.05\)) affected by muscle and all analyzed TPA parameters were significantly (\(p<0.05\)) affected by the production phase. Their interaction during the production process significantly (\(p<0.05\)) affected all analyzed parameters except springiness (Table 4). Hardness (N) increased significantly in both muscles during the initial production phases. An increase in hardness was more evident in SM, especially after salting and drying, which can be attributed to the increasing salt concentrations and water loss (Table 1). Several studies showed a strong relationship between hardness and water and salt content [9; 31; 36]. The sharp decrease in hardness occurred after the ripening phase in both muscles, probably due to the progression of proteolysis (Figure 1B).