Salpicão de Melgaço

Appearance & taste

The sausage is straight and brown, has a round cross-section of 4 to 8 cm and is 14 to 22 cm long. When cut, the meat appears well bound, even, dark and strongly coloured and slightly marbled.

It has an intense smoky aroma. The taste is only slightly sweet, slightly acidic and spicy, moderately salty and smoky. The texture is fairly firm, tender and moderately juicy; the juiciness comes from the fat marbled into the pieces of muscle. The label bears the words “Salpicão de Melgaço — Indicação Geográfica Protegida” and the sausage’s logo.

Production

According to the specification, the best cuts are used, above all loin, tenderloin, legs and shoulders, from purebred Bísaro pigs or their crosses, slaughtered at a live weight of at least 110 kg and at 32 weeks at the earliest. The meat is cut into relatively large pieces of 5 to 18 cm and marinated in a precisely measured mixture of red or white Vinho Verde or a similar wine, water, garlic, onions, salt, bay leaf, cumin and sweet and hot paprika.

The casing is cleaned, scalded pig large intestine, never an artificial casing. It is tied off at the ends from the inside with two knots and then turned inside out, so that the knot stays hidden inside; after filling, two or three simple knots follow. The sausage is smoked for about a month over a smouldering fire of dry, non-resinous wood of oak, gorse, birch, heather and Spanish broom, which gives little flame and a lot of smoke. Producers judge when the smoky flavour is strong enough from the dryness of the wood and the amount of smoke. All steps from cutting to smoking and ripening take place in the area.

Origin & history

The area covers the municipality of Melgaço with all its parishes, including Castro Laboreiro, Lamas de Mouro, Paderne and Vila. The winters are long and cold, and average minimum temperatures do not rise above 11 °C. This makes it possible to process fresh meat and let it ripen while cold-smoking. Oak, birch and gorse grow in abundance, and Spanish broom and heather are native to the area.

According to the specification, the methods of pig rearing, slaughter and long preservation go back to the population’s former isolation and are passed on from generation to generation. According to the specification, the sausage is regarded as the finest and best-known sausage of the area and is sold at producers’ stalls and at markets in the region. The “Festa do Alvarinho e do Fumeiro” festival has been held since 1994.