Reformed Chicken Hams: Adding Functional Poultry Protein Increases Yield and Improves Taste

Reformed chicken hams are made from pieces of chicken meat, tumbled, and pressed together. Once formed, they’re then usually sold whole or in slices and meant to be eaten in cold slices—also known as deli meat.

To appeal to consumers, the hams must have a meaty bite, and that authentic chicken flavor. To be of value to retailers, the hams must have a firm texture that yield high-quality meat slices (when cut) and not much waste—either in the form of breakage or syneresis.

For manufacturers to meet expectations and achieve these outcomes, while also maintaining their budget, adding functional chicken protein such as QBind Chicken FPP C or QBind Turkey FPP T is the ideal solution. Here’s why:

Functional chicken protein ensures a firm bite and a meaty flavor

QBind Chicken FPP C comes from chicken pieces (the skin and fat to be exact) and has an excellent water binding capacity of 1:8. As a result, up to 5% of chicken meat can be substituted with FPP C. Of course, this has the potential to cut costs, but also it upgrades your poultry product’s texture. For consumers, the addition of FPP C yields a chicken ham that has a satisfying meaty and chewy texture.

QBind Chicken FPP C improves taste

Also using FPP C allows manufacturers to maintain meaty, juicy chicken flavor. That’s because it has the ideal ratio of collagen compared to other proteins. The collagen is important because it retains the meat juices in the meat and therefore imparts a tender, juicy texture. But also, FPP C is high in an amino acid called glutamate and it not only adds that roasty, umami flavor to your product, but also helps limit unnecessary added salt or other seasonings.

Read more about how FPP C adds value to your end product here.

Evidence:Taste enhancement and replacement of chicken meat in reformed hams

To test our recommendations, we conducted an experiment where we added FPP C to chicken meat for a reformed chicken ham. In this particular example, we replaced 5% chicken meat with 1.5% FPP C. That ratio successfully maintained the same, firm texture—ensuring the desired meaty bite and good sliceability of the hams. Additionally, flavor was improved and yield increased by about 10%—from 70% to 80%.

In the application sheet ‘Taste enhancement and replacement of chicken meat in reformed hams’ you can find the breakout of which ingredients were used, how much of each, which steps were taken during this process, as well as before and after images of the meat itself.

Interested in a real-world example of poultry proteins in use?

Would you like to request a sample and test these proteins? You can fill out a request here and a product specialist from Sonac will arrange for a sample to be sent.

Learn more about QBind Chicken FPP C here, and QBind Turkey FPP T here. Or download our leaflets.