raw or cooked, which is less bad? You would never have said that

There are those who, often, between raw or cooked ham, choose the raw one thinking it will hurt less. But is it really so? To understand it we should first of all clarify how one is done and how, on the other hand, the other is done.

Sometimes you are spoiled for choice. Both the hams are good and they like themgenerally for both adults and children. To understand which of the two is more suitable in a balanced diet, you need to study their characteristics. Which of the two affects our health less negatively?

Raw ham and cooked ham are two types of porke, obtained from the processing of the pork leg. The former is aged for at least a year in cool, dry environments, while the latter is put into sausages immediately after slaughtering.

The main difference between the two products is that the former contains less salt than the latter (about 50% less), but despite this considerable nutritional difference, the importance of its healthy properties should not be confused with the caloric ones: in fact, a kilo of cooked ham contains about 1,000 calories while the same weight of raw ham contains only 600! Obviously, the caloric intake of the two types of ham can vary according to the type.

Ham: raw or cooked, which is less bad? You would never have said that

However, it is difficult to choose between raw or cooked ham. They are both very good and have decidedly different flavours.
Il raw hamas we have already mentioned, is obtained from the leg of the pig, which is boned and salted for a few months.

During this seasoning period the meat it loses a part of the water contained in the tissues, which is reabsorbed during cooking. Cooked ham, on the other hand, is produced with pieces of meat subjected to drying and cooking processes (for example with the smoking system), without the use of salt in the phases preceding the final production
of the final part of the product itself.

The production process of cooked ham includes several steps. The pork leg is boned and dried, then a compound (which can be salt, pepper and various spices) and churning (a process to flavor the meat) are added. The meat is pressed in order to eliminate all liquid substances: this operation is necessary because raw ham is very moist; in fact, if it were not pressed, the product would be too liquid and could not be cut into pieces.

Finally, the leg is steamed for about 24 hours until the crust is formed which will determine its final taste.

Is it better to opt for raw ham or cooked ham?

Il raw ham and cooked ham they are two products which, as we have seen, substantially differ in terms of mode of preparation. The former is in fact cut from the lower part of the pork leg and is very lean, while the latter is dried in the oven and has a meatier consistency.

Il raw ham is easier to digest compared to its cooked counterpart, but the latter contains more proteins and fats (for example, olive acid). Furthermore, the former has a lower caloric intake than the latter: 100 g of cooked ham has about 250 kcal against the 200 kcal of raw ham.

Which is less bad for your health? There is no absolute answer. Raw ham and cooked ham are two different foods, with different nutritional properties: the first contains more proteins and less fat, while the second is rich in
unsaturated fats. The problem is not so much deciding whether to eat one or the other, but choosing which type of product is best suited to one’s personal needs.

The guide to choosing the most suitable ham for your body

• If we want a more digestible product, it is better to opt for raw ham.
• If, on the other hand, we follow a protein diet, raw ham is better.
• To be avoided in low-calorie diets, the fattest ham – that is – the cooked one. This type, in fact, tends to retain many of its lipids during preparation.
• If you are trying to lose weight, then the cooked one should be avoided.
• However, people suffering from high blood pressure should opt for cooked ham, because it is characterized by the presence of less salt.
• Who, on the other hand, tends to have high bad cholesterol it is better that you choose the raw one which contains a much greater quantity of fats considered good, including – in fact – oleic acid.

We can therefore say that neither one nor the other should be demonized. Each person, according to their body and their needs, can opt for one or the other.