Chorizo Riojano

Appearance & taste

The sausages are horseshoe-shaped and more or less cylindrical, with a diameter of 30 to 40 mm and a weight of at least 200 g. They are firm and compact, and the surface is usually rough. The cut surface is smooth and free of discolouration, and the pieces of meat and fat can be clearly told apart.

The aroma is balanced, strong and lasting, above all of paprika, with a slight note of garlic. The taste is strong and lasting, balanced between meat and fat, with little acidity. The variety with hot paprika is spicy. The sausage slices well and has bite without being tough.

Each sausage carries a numbered control label with the words “Indicación Geográfica Protegida”, the name and the logo.

Production

Sinew-free lean meat from castrated male or from female pigs is used, together with belly fat or lean back fat without rind. The fat must be firm; soft, lard-like belly fat is not suitable. The meat must be well matured, may not be deep-frozen and must have a pH below 6.3. Cutting takes place at no more than 12 °C, and the chorizo is made separately in space and time from other products.

Meat and fat are minced with a clean cut so that the tissue does not suffer too much. Dry fine salt, peeled raw garlic and Extra-grade paprika are added, and for the hot variety also cayenne pepper. The mixture is kneaded in a vacuum mixer and then rests for 12 to 24 hours at 0 to 6 °C. It is then filled with sufficient pressure into natural pork casings and tied with cotton string.

For ripening, the sausages hang in ventilated drying rooms at no more than 16 °C, or in natural drying chambers at up to 20 °C. They then continue to dry in hanging or drying halls until colour and aroma are stable; how long depends on length and diameter. Sausages with wrinkles, air pockets or other defects are sorted out.

Origin & history

In La Rioja the influences of three climate zones meet, which favours natural ripening. Today the last steps usually take place in air-conditioned chambers, but these are set to local conditions. In the mountains, pigs were traditionally slaughtered with the first cold spells. The chorizos had to last until the grape harvest the following autumn, which is why the knowledge of how to make them was important.

The first family businesses appeared in the 19th century. In 1890 a “sausage factory in Logroño” is mentioned, and from the same year the industrialist Julio Farias describes how he shipped sausages from La Rioja to Cuba in tins filled with lard. After the economic crisis of the 1930s, Baños de Río Tobía became the centre of production, at about 500 metres above sea level where the Sierra de la Demanda begins. Most of the producers are still there today. In articles published in 1979 in the newspaper “La Gaceta del Norte”, Javier Herce Galarreta described Chorizo Riojano as tender, aromatic, spicy and strongly coloured.

In the region’s cooking the sausage is part of dishes such as Patatas con Chorizo (potatoes with chorizo), the lamb dish Calderete, Choricillo asado al sarmiento grilled over vine shoots, and Preñaditos, pieces of sausage in bread dough.