Salsiccia di Calabria

Appearance & taste

The sausage is in natural pork casing and is either tied by hand into a chain 40 to 80 cm long or shaped into a U. Sausage that is sold only sliced and vacuum-packed or packed in a protective atmosphere may also be in edible collagen casing and straight and cylindrical.

When cut, it is medium-grained with well-distributed fat. Its colour is uniform, natural or bright red depending on the ingredients. The aroma is more or less intense, the seasoning balanced or stronger and hot. Depending on the chilli used, the label may say “piccante” (hot) for hot chilli, “dolce” (mild) for sweet chilli or “bianca” (white) for sausage with no chilli at all. There the name is directly followed by “Denominazione d’Origine Protetta”, together with the PDO logo.

Production

The meat comes from pigs raised in Calabria; boars and breeding sows are excluded, as is frozen meat. The animals correspond to the heavy Italian pig, bred from breeds such as Apulo-Calabrese, Large White and Landrace Italiana or from Duroc boars; purebred Landrace Belga, Hampshire, Pietrain and Spot are not permitted. A batch of slaughter pigs weighs at least 140 kg on average. They are fed compound feed at least half of which consists of barley, field beans, maize, acorns and chickpeas; cassava and potatoes are prohibited, and in the final fattening phase also dairy by-products. As far as available, the feed comes from Calabria.

The sausage mixture consists of at least 50 % shoulder, at most 15 % leg and/or at most 50 % lower rib; fat makes up 6 to 20 %. It is seasoned with salt, black pepper as whole corns and ground, hot or sweet red chilli as a powder or cream, wine, spices and natural flavourings. The well-mixed mixture is filled into the casing, which is then pricked and tied. The sausage ripens for at least 30 days. All steps from rearing and slaughtering the pigs through mincing, mixing, filling and tying to ripening take place in Calabria.

Origin & history

Calabria lies in southern Italy. The climate is warm to temperate, with little rainfall, which falls mainly in winter. The region is predominantly hilly to mountainous and, as a peninsula, has 800 km of coastline on the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas. According to the specification, the particular wind conditions and temperature ranges help to maintain good conditions in the ripening rooms.

The specification calls the salsiccia a typical ripened sausage product of Calabria. What matters is the producers’ experience in selecting the cuts of meat and processing them with fat and spices, as well as the craft skill of tying the sausage into the traditional chain or horseshoe shape. Spices and natural flavourings have long been customary in Calabrian butchery.