Handbook of Meat Processing

Semidry and Dry Fermented Sausages 389

Table 22.3. Semidry fermented sausages characteristics and examples

Process

T ( ° C)

Process

time

Moisture

(%)

a w pH M : P Drying Examples References

2 – 8 52 5.1 4.7 : 1 S Portuguese

Alheiras

sausage

Ferreira et al.

(2006)

25 to 16 9 0.95 4.5 S Dutch

sausages

Houben and

vant ’ Hooft

(2005)

24 to 15 35 45 – 49 < 0.91 5.1 S Ireland

sausages

Hughes et al.

(2002)

35 to 5 40 60 – 65 4.4 – 4.7 3.5 : 1 V US Lebanon

Bologna

Chikthimmah

et al. (2001)

30 7 70 4.4 – 4.8 3.5 : 1 Thai Nham

sausage

Visessanguan

et al. (2006)

Process time in days; M/P: Moisture/Protein ratio

using local artisanal techniques (Fontana
et al. 2005 ; Fadda and Vignolo 2007 ).

Mediterranean

The Mediterranean region has a wide variety
of fermented meat products due to the varia-
tion in the use of raw materials, formulations,
and manufacturing processes that originate in
the habits and customs of the different coun-
tries and regions. Two technologies can be
clearly distinguished: dry - curing, southern,
or Mediterranean; and wet/pickled curing
or northern (Talon et al. 2004 ). A brief
description of the main fermented sausages
produced in South European countries is
presented.

Italy

Unsmoked dry fermented sausages made
mostly of pork are by far the most popular
products in Italy. In Southern Italy, there is
a wide variety of typical dry fermented
sausages prepared according to traditional
methods, Salciccia and Soppressata among
the most appreciated ones. In particular,
Soppressata of Vallo di Diano and Molisana
are pork meat sausages produced in the
Campania region in a large number of small
artisanal plants (Parente et al. 2001 ; Villani

et al. 2007 ; Bonomo et al. 2008 ). Naples - type

salami is also a popular Southern Italian dry

fermented sausage made of coarsely minced

pork meat (Coppola et al. 2000 ). In Northeast

Italy, traditional dry fermented sausages

made of fresh pork display unique organolep-

tic sensory profi les characterized by accented

acidity, slight sourness, and elastic semihard

consistency (Comi et al. 2005 ; Rantsiou et al.

2005 ; Spaziani et al. 2008 ), while in Northern

Italy, Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)

fermented dry sausages are produced exclu-

sively from local pig breeds (Di Cagno et al.

2008 ).

Spain and Portugal

In Spain, around one - fi fth of the total meat

manufactured products are dry - cured sau-

sages. Spanish chorizo, Salchich ó n , and Fuet

are dry fermented sausages produced in the

central - west region of Extremadura, with

wide acceptance among consumers. Chorizo,

with a total annual production of more than

80,000 tons, is made of minced pork meat,

cayenne pepper, paprika, and garlic, stuffed

in natural or artifi cial casings, and ripened

at low temperatures (Garc í a - Varona et al.

2000 ), while Salchich ó n and Fuet , to which

black and white pepper is added, undergo

ripening for four months (Aymerich et al.