Using the brine preparation procedure suggested by the preliminary
experiments showed that incubating curing brines containing
vegetable juice powder (VJP) and starter culture (S. carnosus) prior to
use resulted in hams that were comparable to a sodium nitrite-added
control for cured color and suppression of lipid oxidation. Color values
and residual nitrite concentrations for the ham treatments with the
VJP measured during 42 days storage confirmed that typical curing
reactions occurred in all treatments.