Salami

Salami. The white covering is a thin layer of edible mold.

A salame ("Salami" is the plural form) is a cured (fermented and air-dried) sausage of Italian tradition. The name comes from the Italian salare meaning to salt.

A traditional salame is made from a mixture which may include the following; chopped pork, beef, wine, salt, and various herbs and spices. More modern (but still traditional) mixtures include additional ingredients to assist in fermenting; nonfat dry milk, dextrose, Lactic Acid Starter Culture (bacteria), Ascorbic Acid, Sodium nitrite, and Sodium nitrate. These more modern ingredients simply take the guess work out of traditional curing and can be found in many of the finest salami varieties in the world. The raw meat mixture is usually allowed to ferment for a day and then the mixture is either stuffed in an edible natural or non-edible artificial casings and hung to cure. The casings are often treated with an edible mold (Penicillium) culture as well. Mold imparts flavor as well as prevent spoilage during the curing process. Most salami have the mold or the casing removed before being brought to the US market. Purists insist that the mold should be left on.

Within Italy, salami come in many regional varieties. Salami varieties also come from many countries, and through out the world, amateurs enjoy the art form as well. Though uncooked, salami is not raw. Curing is a delicious way to prepare meat for eating. The term "cotto salame" refers to salami which are cooked or smoked before or after curing. This is done to impart a specific flavor but not to cook the meat. Before curing, a "cotto salame" is still considered raw and is not ready to be eaten.

Styles of Salami are as varied as types of cheese. Many Old World salami are named after the region or country of their origin. Some examples are Arles, Genoa, Hungarian and Milano salame. Many are flavored with Garlic. Some, like a few varieties from Spain, most Hungarian types, as well as many southern Italian styles (such as Pepperoni, derived from salsiccia Napoletana piccante) include paprika or chili. Varieties are also differentiated by the coarseness or fineness of the chopped meat as well as the size and style of the casing used. The length of curing process is directly affected by the climate of the curing environment and the size and style of casing.

The process of curing does not just involve drying. The process also involves fermenting with lactic acid bacteria. This is a good thing. These bacteria are beneficial and safe for human ingestion. The lactic acid produced by the bacteria makes the meat an inhospitable environment for other, dangerous bacteria and imparts the tangy flavor that separates salami from machine-dried pork. The flavor of a salame relies just as much on how this bacteria is cultivated as it does on quality and variety of other ingredients. Originally, the bacteria were introduced into the meat mixture with wine (which contains a host of beneficial bacteria). Now, starter cultures are used.

One of the most expensive and well regarded types of salame, the Fellino, brings a great amount of money to the local industry of the province of Parma and Emilia-Romagna in general. There is, in fact, a small statue in the town of Fellino dedicated to the pig. According to what was written in the inscription of the statue, the people of these areas brought out the best quality of the pig to create the grandest of all pork-derived products in Italy if not in the whole known world, the Salame di Fellino and Prosciutto di Parma. This gives a bit of perspective of how much pride and dignity Italians have for these traditions.

This article is written with traditional salami in mind and not machine-dried pork products. In the US, traditional salami are either imported or referred to as an "Italian Salame". "Italian Salame" is the protected and respectable moniker for Salami made in the US with authentic traditions.

See also

• Advanced meat recovery
• Pastrami
• Pepperoni