We have some really good quality salami producers in the UK, and their products are popular and award-winning. But the primary countries for the production of this popular and moreish gourmet food tend to be in Europe - Italy, France and Spain in the main - where the perfect climate provides ideal conditions for properly curing the meats, by providing consistently good air temperatures and humidity to produce a beautiful end product.
Salamis, Parma ham and the famed Pata Negra Iberico ham can be cured for quite some time; indeed, some of the finest quality Bellota Spanish hams can be cured for up to 5 years - producing a unique depth of flavour with a glorious sweetness that commands fierce prices in the top food halls of the world.
As with much in the world of gourmet food, artisan salami is produced the time-consuming, labour intensive hard way - and relies strongly on happy animals; pigs that are allowed to graze acres of woodland and meadow, feeding on all those tasty morsels that give their meat its distinctive flavour - after all, the famous Bellota that you'll hear associated with Spanish hams is purely to do with the acorns that the Pata Negra pigs feed on during grazing. It's these acorns that produce the sought-after nutty flavour and the quite fabulous marbled effect one finds within the meat, which is generally a very dark red colour and always oily - that's acorn oil that is! Grazing on a free-range basis will allow the meat to develop in a way that's not possible if the animals are kept in battery, where the lack of exercise who give a fatty meat with no real flavour.
When getting the meat ready to go into the salami casing these artisan insist on doing things the hard way, often using ancient hand-operated equipment that has been in the business for generations as that's the only way it can be done - otherwise the product's quality will be compromised; using modern commercial machinery would ruin the texture and therefore the taste of the salami
The salami is then fermented and then cured for a period of up to 17 days when its ready for sale; during this time the salt on the outside of the salami draws the moisture out and the humid conditions in the fermenting room keep the salami's casing from drying out and sealing up, trapping the moisture inside. It's critical that the salami is thoroughly perforated all over, especially where there are air pockets - allowing air flow around a into the salami, to cure it and help remove excess moisture.
By this time, the result should be a perfect artisan salami that is ready for sale and eating!
Christopher Morton writes for Wychwood Deli - one of the UK's best online gourmet food suppliers, supplying caterers, restaurateurs and end users alike.
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