Why is roast pork white and ham is pink when it comes from the same animal?
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Ham gets it’s color from the curing process
If you cooked a raw Ham it would turn white like Pork
“Ham” is cured with nitrates. Same as bacon. This is where the color comes from. “Curing” extends the shelf life considerably.
Roast pork and ham come from the same animal, but they are prepared and processed differently, which results in the different colors. Roast pork is typically made from pork loin, which is a lean cut of meat. When it is cooked, the heat causes the myoglobin in the meat to denature, turning it white. Ham, on the other hand, is made from the hind leg of a pig, which contains more fat and connective tissue. Ham is also cured and often smoked, which adds salt and other curing agents to the meat and helps to preserve it. This process also causes the meat to turn pink. Additionally, some hams are also injected with a solution called “pink curing solution” which contains sodium nitrite and other ingredients that give the meat its characteristic pink color.
You can experiment, add some salt to a pork roast and let it sit for a day, it will become somewhat ham like
Related: Sausage is brown because they add chemicals to it to make it that color. If you make homemade sausage from ground pork, it comes out white.
The same way pork belly isn’t pink like bacon. The curing process via nitrates.
Same exact meat section, but pork belly is more white since it isn’t cured.
Curing salt, Prague powder number 1, Sodium nitrite is for brine cured meat, Prague power number 2 a blend of sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate is used for dry curing of meat. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curing_salt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curing_salt)
Proteins with iron in them, including the myoglobin in red meat, change color in response to things in the environment.
* When you get them hot or leave them partially deprived of oxygen they turn brown-gray.
* When you give them no oxygen they turn purple.
* Lots of oxygen leaves them red.
* Carbon monoxide causes a different color of red.
* Nitrites and nitrogen compounds in wood smoke turn them pink
Your ham is cured with nitrites. If it says “no added nitrites” on the packaging it’s probably cured with celery juice, which naturally contains nitrites (but because celery is a food, the manufacturer can pretend those nitrites don’t exist). By contrast, your roast pork has no nitrites, and has gotten hot enough to turn the myoglobin brown-gray.
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Turkey legs in the deli section are prepared similarly to ham and other deli meats and is also pink.
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