Hams were sampled from 144 pigs, 36 each of barrows, gilts, boars, and ridglings, which ranged from 87 to 93 kg live weight at the time of slaughter. Ham steaks, prepared and cooked by a standardized procedure, were evaluated for cooking aroma, tenderness, juiciness, texture, flavor, and overall preference by a taste panel of six judges.For tenderness and texture, the samples from boars ranked highest followed by gilts, barrows, and ridglings. All sex differences were statistically significant [Formula: see text] for these two characteristics. Ranking for overall score and overall preference by judges was in this same order.Samples from barrows and ridglings scored higher for cooking aroma than the samples from boars and gilts [Formula: see text], although only three boars and one gilt were unanimously judged objectionable. However, aroma was lowly correlated with flavor (r = 0.28) and samples scoring low for aroma were often quite satisfactory for flavor.Samples from boars, gilts, and barrows received scores for flavor that were equivalent and exceeded the score for ridglings by 0.35 units [Formula: see text].It was observed that objectionable odors noted in the cooking of pig meat may, in the absence of knowledge of the sex involved, be incorrectly attributed to the entire male or to the ridgling pig.
