Chorizo de Cantimpalos

Appearance & taste

The sausage comes in four formats. “Sarta” is a sausage in one piece, 25 to 35 mm thick; “Achorizado” a chain of several sausages tied off or clipped, 30 to 50 mm thick. “Cular” is in a pork casing, thicker than 35 mm and irregularly cylindrical because of the shape of the casing. The “Torpedo” format is sold in slices: a regularly cylindrical sausage in an artificial collagen casing, thicker than 35 mm and over 50 cm long. The chorizo is sold whole, in pieces or in slices.

With “Sarta” and “Achorizado” the surface is dark red, smooth or slightly rough, without protruding pieces of fat; “Achorizado” also has a floury, whitish coating. With “Cular” such a coating covers the sausage wholly or partly, and beneath it a greenish tone can be seen, which comes from the oxidation of the casing.

The sausage feels firm along its whole length, without being excessively hard or soft. In the cut it is intensely red, with reddish-white dots from discoloured fat particles; the mass is homogeneous and compact, and no piece of fat is larger than 0.5 cm. The aroma from ripening is slightly sour, mild and of medium intensity, and none of the spices predominates. The sausage is juicy, easy to chew, low in fibre and mild in taste overall. Its moisture content is between 20 and 40 %.

Production

The meat comes from fat pigs of white breeds from registered farms; male animals are castrated. In the last three months of their lives, 75 % of their feed consists of barley, wheat and rye. They are slaughtered at 6.5 to 10 months with a carcass weight of 90 to 140 kg. Belly, neck, trimmings of shoulder and ham as well as boned ham and boned shoulder are used, in each case without sinews and connective tissue. Additional subcutaneous fat is not allowed, nor is meat that has previously been frozen or stored for longer than six days.

For each kilogram of meat, 18 to 25 g of paprika are added, at least half of it PDO “Pimentón de La Vera”, and 15 to 22 g of refined sea salt. Chopped garlic (up to 4 g) and oregano (up to 0.2 g) are possible; preservatives are not allowed.

The meat is prepared at below 12 °C and minced at 0 to 2 °C, for “Cular” through a coarser plate (18 to 26 mm) than for the other formats (6 to 16 mm). The seasoned mass rests for 12 to 36 hours at 2 to 7 °C in cold rooms; according to the specification, the aromas of the meat and ingredients combine during this time, and a bacterial flora settles that lowers the pH. The mass is then filled into casings that are closed with clips or threads; the colour of the threads – red, black or white – depends on the format.

Ripening and drying last at least 21 days (“Sarta”), 24 days (“Achorizado”) or 40 days (“Cular”, “Torpedo”), and the sausage loses at least 25 % of its weight in the process. First it ripens in drying chambers at 6 to 16 °C and 60 to 85 % humidity, then it dries in natural drying rooms, for more than 40 % of the total time. Production, ripening and drying take place in the area; registered businesses may also slice and package elsewhere.

Origin & history

The 72 municipalities of the province of Segovia, including Cantimpalos and the city of Segovia, form a strip about 40 km wide on the northern slope of the Sierra de Guadarrama with an area of 2,574 km². According to the specification, the altitude of over 900 m, low temperatures, moderate humidity and very few days of fog favour natural drying. To the south lie the higher, colder and wetter mountains, to the north a lower-lying, foggier plain with no tradition of chorizo making.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, when production in the area was industrialised, the sausage has been mentioned in historical and literary works. Trade documents from 1928 and 1933 about the export of chorizo from Cantimpalos to Mexico warn against imitations. In 1956 the writer Camilo José Cela, in “Judíos, moros y cristianos”, named “Cantimpalos, famous for its chorizos”.