Salami


Salami is a salume consisting of fermented and air-dried meat, typically pork. Historically, salami was popular among Southern, Eastern, and Central European peasants because it could be stored at room temperature for up to 45 days once cut, supplementing a potentially meager or inconsistent supply of fresh meat. Countries and regions across Europe make their own traditional varieties of salami.
Small-sized salami are also referred to as salametti or salamini.

Etymology

The word salami in English comes from the plural form of the Italian wikt:salame#Italian. It is a singular or plural word in English for cured meats of a European style. In Romanian, Bulgarian, and Turkish, the word is salam; in Macedonian and Serbo-Croatian it is salama; in Hungarian it is szalámi; in Czech it is salám; in Slovak it is saláma; in Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian it is salyami; and Polish, French, German, Greek, and Dutch have the same word as English.
The term originates from the word sale with a termination, which in Italian indicates a collective noun.

Origin and history

—allowing beneficial or benign organisms to grow in food to prevent destructive or toxic ones from growing—has been around for thousands of years. Environmental conditions dictate what food processes are used, as seen in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe, where "meat products are dried to lower water activity values, taking advantage of the long, dry and sunny days, while in Northern Europe, fermented sausages require smoking for further preservation".
The modern recipe of salami originated in Italy in the early 18th century. It was adopted later in other countries, particularly in Central Europe, with adapted manufacturing procedures. At that time, it was largely consumed by the wealthy, as meat in general was very expensive.
In Europe, the main countries that produce salami are France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Spain, which make several hundred million kilograms per year.
Worldwide, the many different versions of sausage each have their own cultural and flavor profiles. Additionally, each sausage has its own type of seasonings and amount of salt, making each flavor and texture unique. This wide array of fermented sausages, especially in terms of salami, shows its ubiquitous but exclusive nature. For example, due to emigration to North America, European settlers brought many traditions, including fermented meats such as pepperoni. Similar types of sausages are found in the Middle East, where various meats such as beef, lamb, and mutton are used; or in China, where lap cheong are usually pork.
Likewise, in Central Europe, Hungarian salami is quite popular. Hungarian salami is "intensively smoked, and then its surface is inoculated with mold starters or spontaneous mold growth".
In the United States, National Salami Day is celebrated on September 7 of each year.

Ingredients

A traditional salami, with its typical marbled appearance, is made from beef or pork. Beef is usual in halal and kosher salami, which never include pork for religious reasons. Makers also use other meats, including venison and poultry. Goose salami is traditional in parts of northern Italy. Salami has also been made from horse meat. In the Provence region of France and in the Veneto region of Italy donkey meat is used for salami, as well, the product being sold in street markets.
Typical additional ingredients include:
The maker usually ferments the raw meat mixture for a day, then stuffs it into either an edible natural or inedible cellulose casing, and hangs it up to cure. Some recipes apply heat to about 40 °C to accelerate fermentation and drying. Higher temperatures stop the fermentation when the salami reaches the desired pH, but the product is not fully cooked. Makers often treat the casings with an edible mold culture. The mold imparts flavor, helps the drying process, and helps prevent spoilage during curing.

Manufacturing process

Although completely uncooked, salami is not raw, but cured. Salame cotto —typical of the Piedmont region of Italy—is cooked or smoked before or after curing to impart a specific flavor, but not for any benefit of cooking. Before cooking, salame cotto is considered raw and not ready to eat.
Three major stages are involved in the production of salami: preparation of raw materials, fermentation, and ripening and drying. Minor differences in the formulation of the meat or production techniques give rise to the various types of salami across different countries.

Preparation

Before fermentation, raw meat is ground and mixed with other ingredients such as salt, sugar, spices, pepper and, if the particular salami variety requires it, lactic acid bacterial starter culture.

Fermentation

This mixture is then inserted into casings of the desired size. To achieve the flavor and texture that salami possesses, fermentation, which can also be referred to as a slow acidification process promoting a series of chemical reactions in the meat, has to take place. Direct acidification of meat was found to be inappropriate for salami production, since it causes protein denaturation and an uneven coagulation, thereby causing an undesirable texture in the salami.
For a more modern controlled fermentation, makers hang the salami in warm, humid conditions for 1–3 days to encourage the fermenting bacteria to grow, then hang it in a cool, humid environment to slowly dry. In a traditional process, the maker skips the fermentation step and immediately hangs the salami in a cool, humid curing environment. Added sugars provide a food source for the curing bacteria.
The bacteria produce lactic acid as a waste product, which lowers the pH and coagulates the proteins, reducing the meat's water-holding capacity. The bacteria-produced acid makes the meat an inhospitable environment for pathogenic bacteria and imparts a tangy flavor that distinguishes salami from machine-dried pork. Salami flavor relies as much on how these bacteria are cultivated as it does on the quality and variety of the other ingredients. Originally, makers introduced wine into the mix, favouring the growth of other beneficial bacteria. Now, they use starter cultures.
The climate of the curing environment, casing size, and style determine the drying and curing process. According to the particular variety of salami, different fermentation methods involving different acids have been explored to create various colors and flavors. Starter cultures, such as lactic acid bacteria and coagulase-negative cocci, such as specific strains of Staphylococcus xylosus or Micrococcus, are most commonly used in salami production. More species of LAB and CNC were discovered during recent decades and they were found to have different fermentation temperatures with variable rates of acidification. Despite the fact that these bacteria can help maintain a longer shelf life for meat products and even retard the growth of pathogens, there are a few studies that argue some starter cultures may be related to the production of enterotoxins or biogenic amines that can be harmful to the human body. Therefore, starter cultures have to be carefully selected by producers and properly used in fermentation.

Drying

After fermentation, the sausage must be dried. This changes the casings from water-permeable to reasonably airtight. A white covering of either mold or flour helps prevent photo-oxidation of the meat and rancidity in the fat.
Ripening and drying happens after fermentation. This stage causes the main physical and microbial changes through the large amount of water loss. About half of the water is evaporated and further water loss has to be prevented by packaging. Nonuniform drying processes could cause the formation of a hard shell on the surface of salami. This is similar to other food products such as fruits that undergo dehydration to decrease the risk of diseases or spoilage-causing microbial growth. In modern manufacturing temperature and relative humidity are strictly controlled according to the size of the salami.
Nitrates or nitrites may be added to provide additional color and inhibit growth of harmful bacteria from the genus Clostridium. Salt, acidity, nitrate/nitrite levels, and dryness of the fully cured salami combine to make the uncooked meat safe to consume. High quality, fresh ingredients are important to helping prevent deadly microorganisms and toxins from developing.

Properties

The quality of salami is dependent on the quality of the raw materials and the level of technology used in its production. The aroma and taste of salami are developed by enzymatic and non-enzymatic reactions. The characteristic fermented meat flavor is believed to be developed by a combination of endogenous enzymatic activities and the lactic acid produced by the starter culture. Lactic acid bacteria develop the tangy flavor of salami through the fermentation of carbohydrates and produces an appealing red color to the meat after fermentation, while coagulase-negative cocci can catabolize amino acids and fatty acids to produce volatile compounds. The flavor itself consists of odour properties, which comes from volatile substances, and taste and tactile properties, which comes from non-volatile substances that are a result of enhancers and synergists.
When smoke is applied to salami, it also affects the taste, smell, appearance, and texture. Some of these changes are due to the formation of phenolic compounds, which slow fat oxidation. The pyrolysis of cellulose and hemicelluloses in the salami casing produces carbonyls, which develop the color of the meat.
More than 400 volatile compounds have been identified in different types of dry-fermented sausages. For example, the organic compounds identified in Hungarian salami produced the dominant flavors of smokiness, sweetness, pungency, sourness, and cloves; secondary flavors included cooked meat, cheese, popcorn, cooked potato, mushroom, seasoning, phenols, roasting, sulfur, and sweatiness. Some minor flavors included malt, garlic, fruit, pine, grass, citrus, honey, caramel, and vanilla. The overall smoky note is the result of numerous phenols. Whether these odorants are formed in the salami or simply transferred from the raw materials during manufacturing is unknown; systematic studies have yet to compare the odorants present in the raw materials to those in the final product.