Salame Felino

Appearance & taste

The salami is irregularly cylindrical, thicker at one end and tapering at the other, 15 to 130 cm long and 200 g to 4.5 kg in weight. Its surface is mottled white-grey and, because of a small amount of native moulds, looks as if it were covered with fine dust.

The cut surface is firm, homogeneous and not elastic, ruby red and without spots. It tastes slightly sweet and aromatic. According to the specification, its compactness, homogeneity, colour and flavour distinguish it from other products of this kind. It contains no lactose and no milk powder and has a moderately high pH.

It is sold whole with a label or seal, or in pieces and slices, vacuum-packed or in a protective atmosphere. When it is sliced, the slices should be exposed to the air as briefly as possible so that they do not turn brown.

Production

The meat comes from pigs of the Large White and Landrace breeds, from Duroc descendants or from other breeds and crosses whose carcasses fall into classes U, R or O. Purebred Belgian Landrace, Hampshire, Piétrain, Duroc and Spotted Poland are excluded. The animals are at least nine months old, and their carcass weighs 110.1 to 190 kg. Selected pieces of muscle and fat are used, such as the upper part of the belly (“testa di pancetta”) and the piece below the shoulder (“trito di banco”); frozen meat is prohibited.

Meat and fat are trimmed of connective tissue and soft fat, stored in the cold room at no less than −1 °C so that the muscle parts dry well, and minced through a 6 to 8 mm plate. The mixture is then combined with 2.0 to 2.8 % salt, whole or coarsely ground peppercorns and crushed garlic. Dry white wine for the fragrance, a little sugar, starter cultures, nitrate, nitrite and ascorbic acid are also allowed. The mixture is stuffed into natural pork casings, tied with string, dried and ripened.

Origin & history

The area covers the whole province of Parma with its hills and plain, lakes and salt mines. In the hills, the salt of Salsomaggiore has always been used. According to the specification, the methods for processing and ripening pork in the plain already developed in Etruscan and Roman times, partly to supply the Roman legions; because of the nearby salt mines, pork was already being salted here in the 14th century.

The specification traces first references back to Apicius’ cookbook “De re coquinaria” from the 1st century and describes the salami as known at the princely courts of Parma, from the Farnese through the Bourbons to Duchess Marie Louise. Probably the oldest depiction is a relief in the Baptistery of Parma (1196–1307): at the sign of Aquarius, two sausages hang over a hearth which correspond in size and shape to today’s salami. In 1766 a census found that the market of the Marquisate of Felino had the liveliest pig trade in the surrounding area; price lists for lean and fat salami date from that time. In 1905 “Salame Felino” entered the dictionary of the Italian language, in 1912 the Ministry of Agriculture mentioned it, and since 1927 the local authorities have recognised the name for salami from the province of Parma.