26 BULLETIN 1086, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table 12.— Retaining period of pickle-cured skinned hams, Fort Worth. 





Lot 

 No. 



Weight 

 cooled 

 smoked 



meat 

 (pounds). 



Weight 

 of meat 

 24 hours 



after 

 smoked 

 (pounds). 



Net weight at 

 end of— 



Loss during re- 

 taining period. 



Green weight through 

 retaining period. 





6 days 

 (pounds). 



19 days 

 (pounds). 



Pounds. 



Per 

 cent. 



Total loss. 



Per 





Pounds. 



Per 



cent. 



cent 

 yield. 



Oily 



13 

 16 

 19 

 22 



14 

 17 

 20 

 23 



15 

 18 

 21 

 24 



650 

 678 

 616 

 588 



643 

 669 

 616 

 581 



626 

 646 

 596 

 553 



591 

 598 

 564 

 514 



59 

 80 

 52 

 74 



9.08 

 11.80 



8.44 

 12.59 



64 

 84 

 64 



88 



9.77 

 12.32 

 10.19 

 14.62 



90.23 





87.68 

 89.81 

 85.38 





2,532 



2,509 



2,421 



2,267 



265 



10.47 



300 



11.68 



88.32 



Soft 



764 

 697 

 651 

 633 



759 

 691 

 643 

 622 



732 

 664 

 614 

 593 



689 

 618 

 569 

 551 



75 

 79 



82 

 82 



9.82 

 11.33 

 12.60 

 12.95 



85 

 87 

 97 

 91 



10.98 

 12.34 

 14.56 

 14.17 



89.02 





87.66 

 85.44 

 85.83 





2,745 



2,715 



2,603 



2,427 



318 



11.58 



360 



12.92 



87.08 



Firm. . . 



687 

 596 

 747 

 652 



680 

 591 

 738 

 644 



659 

 570 

 704 

 615 



613 

 535 

 660 

 576 



74 

 61 

 87 

 76 



10.77 

 10.23 

 11.65 

 11.66 



72 



49 



101 



72 



10.51 

 8.39 

 13.27 

 11.11 



89.49 





91.61 



86.73 

 88.89 





2,682 



2,653 



2,548 



2,384 



298 



11.11 



294 



10.98 



89.02 



During the retaining period of the skinned hams the loss was oily, 10.47 per cent; 

 soft, 11.58 per cent; firm 11.11 per cent, which shows that oily meat shrunk 0.64 per 

 cent of the total weight less than firm and 1.11 per cent less than soft. 



The total shrinkage from chilled weight through the IQ-day retaining period as 

 shown in Table 12 was oily, 11.68 per cent; soft, 12.92 per cent; firm, 10.98 per cent. 

 In other words, the oily lost 0.7 per cent and soft 1.94 per cent more than the hams 

 classed as firm. 



Comparing the total shrinkage of skinned hams with the total shrinkage of hams 

 not skinned, it is found that — 



Oily skinned hams lost 0.41 per cent more than oily hams not skinned. 

 Soft skinned hams lost 0. 78 per cent more than soft hams not skinned . 

 Firm skinned hams lost 1.22 per cent less than firm hams not skinned. 



PICNICS (SHOULDERS) PICKLE CURED. 



The demand for certain cuts of the shoulders made it impracticable to make tests 

 on the same cut at both Fort Worth and East St. Louis; consequently, all of the tests 

 at Fort Worth, with one exception, were made with the shoulder cut known as New 

 Orleans shoulder and cured by the dry-salt method, while the cut known as picnic 

 was used at East St. Louis and cured in sweet pickle. The shoulder cut of one test 

 at Fort Worth was made into picnics and was pickle cured. 



The pumping records of the one test of pickle-cured picnics at Fort Worth show 

 that the percentage gain was almost double that of the East St. Louis tests of the 

 same cut. The variation is not great between firm, soft, and oily at each plant, but 

 it does show how one plant varies from another. 



