Abstract: The main taste compounds of the water-soluble extract (WSE) of Jinhua ham were analyzed including sugars, acids, salts, amino acids and small peptide. Furthermore, the contributions to the whole taste of Jinhua ham were evaluated by TAV method. Results showed that Na+, K+, Ca2+, PO3-4, sugar ribose, wood sugar, glucose, arabinose, mannitol, malic acid, acetic acid, artaric acid, Glu, Ala, Val, Lys and Met played important roles in ham. Otherwise, the molecular weight of crude peptide was mainly less than 1000u. The theory basis was provided for the taste active field and the development of the spice.