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Meat from Spain

Chosco de Tineo PGIChosco de Tineo

Chosco de Tineo is a smoked, cured, uncooked sausage from western Asturias made of whole pieces of pork loin and tongue, never minced. It is seasoned with salt, paprika and garlic, packed by hand into pig intestine, smoked over local hardwood and then dried. The registered specification asks for at least 8 days of each, and it is sold whole, cooked or uncooked.

Fully documentedMeat18 days – 19 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes the share of loin and tongue, not the seasoning amounts.
Pork loinAt least 80 %Cut into pieces; must not be minced[eu-chosco-2010][eu-chosco-2025]
Pork tongueAt least 15 %[eu-chosco-2010][eu-chosco-2025]
Salt, paprika and garlicAmounts not set[eu-chosco-2025]
Pig intestinePacked by hand; it gives the round, irregular shape[eu-chosco-2025]

Total time across the recorded steps: 18 days – 19 days

Start
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What changes: Loin and tongue are cut into pieces and seasoned with salt, paprika and garlic

Step 1 of 5
Cut loin and tongue and season
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Chosco de Tineo is a smoked, cured, uncooked sausage from western Asturias made of whole pieces of pork loin and tongue, never minced. It is seasoned with salt, paprika and garlic, packed by hand into pig intestine, smoked over local hardwood and then dried. The registered specification asks for at least 8 days of each, and it is sold whole, cooked or uncooked. Made in 5 steps over 18 days – 19 days. The longest step, smoke in the ahumadero, takes at least 8 days (European Commission 2010).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 8 daysSet[eu-chosco-2010][eu-chosco-2025]Smoke in the ahumadero
Temperature3–5 °CReported[pliego-asturias]Rest the seasoned pieces in a cold room

What makes this one different

Chosco is made from whole pieces of loin and tongue rather than mince, and it keeps at least 40 % moisture. The specification says it is smoked to preserve it and to help it dry in an area of high relative humidity.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Cooked choscoSold cooked and packed on the producer's premises. The 2025 amendment application would also allow halves and slices, and the Asturias text for it gives cooking at 80 to 100 °C and cold storage at 0 to 7 °C for cooked choscos.

Safety

The Asturias text lets chosco be sold raw or cooked. Cooked chosco, whole, in halves or sliced, must be kept at 0–7 °C and packed on the producer's premises, because cooking weakens the casing and it may split. Raw chosco is pork loin and tongue that is smoked and dried but not cooked. CDC says curing, drying and smoking alone do not consistently kill Trichinella worms in pork, and tells cooks to check meat with a food thermometer.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The vaqueiros de alzada, nomadic cowherds, took choscos up to the mountain pastures from April to October and finished drying them there. The local chronicler Claudio Zardaín wrote in 1920 of the San Roque picnics in Tineo, where sausages such as chosco were eaten. The name was entered in the EU register as a PGI by Commission Regulation (EU) No 152/2011 of 18 February 2011. An application to amend the specification was published in the Official Journal in February 2025 and had not been approved when this page was written.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [eu-chosco-2025] European Commission 2025, Publication of an application for approval of a Union amendment, Chosco de Tineo PGI, with single document, Official Journal C, C/2025/955, 7.2.2025 (CELEX 52025XC00955), read via the EU Publications Office cellar; a pending application to amend, not an adopted specificationother
  2. [eu-chosco-2010] European Commission 2010, Publication of an application, Chosco de Tineo PGI, single document, Official Journal C 166, 25.6.2010 (CELEX 52010XC0625(04)), read via the EU Publications Office cellarspec
  3. [reg-152-2011] European Commission 2011, Commission Regulation (EU) No 152/2011 of 18 February 2011 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications [Chosco de Tineo (PGI)], Official Journal L 46, 19.2.2011, p. 21, read via the EU Publications Office cellarspec
  4. [pliego-asturias] Government of the Principality of Asturias, Pliego de condiciones, IGP Chosco de Tineo (text prepared for the Union amendment; not an adopted specification), published on asturias.esother
  5. [cdc-trichinellosis] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Trichinellosisgov