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Meat from Italy

Ciauscolo PGICiauscolo

Ciauscolo is a soft, spreadable fermented salame from the Marche. Fatty pork belly, shoulder and trimmings are ground two or three times down to 2–3 mm, seasoned with salt, black pepper, wine and garlic, stuffed into natural gut, dried briefly and matured for at least 15 days at 8–18 °C. It must stay at pH 4.8 or higher and never taste acidic.

Fully documentedMeat22 days – 33 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceCut shares from the PGI specification; the amounts of salt, pepper, wine and garlic are not set.
Pork bellyUp to 70 %[masaf-ciauscolo]
Pork shoulderUp to 40 %[masaf-ciauscolo]
Leg and loin trimmingsUp to 30 %[masaf-ciauscolo]
Salt, ground black pepper, wine and garlic[masaf-ciauscolo]
Sugars (lactose, dextrose, fructose, sucrose)Optional, within legal limits; they feed the acidifying bacteria[masaf-ciauscolo]
Ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate, potassium nitrateOptional preservatives within legal limits[masaf-ciauscolo]
Natural pig or bovine gutDesalted in warm water, wine or vinegar before use; tied with hemp or other natural string[masaf-ciauscolo]
Starteroptional; one study made PGI Ciauscolo with and without a commercial starter of Lactobacillus plantarum and Staphylococcus xylosus

Total time across the recorded steps: 22 days – 33 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Chilled pork cuts rest a few days and are trimmed of sinew and soft fat

Step 1 of 6
Age and trim the cuts
Time
2–10 days
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
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

Ciauscolo is a soft, spreadable fermented salame from the Marche. Fatty pork belly, shoulder and trimmings are ground two or three times down to 2–3 mm, seasoned with salt, black pepper, wine and garlic, stuffed into natural gut, dried briefly and matured for at least 15 days at 8–18 °C. It must stay at pH 4.8 or higher and never taste acidic. Made in 6 steps over 22 days – 33 days. The longest step, mature, takes at least 15 days (Ministero dell'agricoltura 2025) and runs at 8–18 °C (Ministero dell'agricoltura 2025). Lactic acid bacteria (more than 1 × 10^7 CFU/g required during ageing); counts passed 8 log CFU/g after 15 days in one study and Staphylococcus species do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 15 daysSet[masaf-ciauscolo][ranucci2016]Mature
Temperature8–18 °CSet[masaf-ciauscolo]Mature
AciditypH at least 4.8Set[masaf-ciauscolo][ranucci2016]Mature

What makes this one different

Ciauscolo is spread on bread rather than sliced. Its fat content (32–46 %) and very fine grind keep it soft, and the specification sets a lower pH limit of 4.8 so it never turns sour.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Prodotto della montagnaCiauscolo made and aged in mountain areas of the production zone may say so on the label.

Safety

Biogenic amines rise most in the first 15 days of ripening, mainly tyramine. In one study an added starter culture made little difference to the amine content. This is soft raw pork eaten without cooking. Curing, drying and smoking alone do not consistently kill Trichinella worms in pork (CDC). CDC tells people who are pregnant, 65 or older or have a weakened immune system to avoid unheated fermented or dry sausages, or to heat them until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: Biogenic amines, mainly tyramine, putrescine and cadaverine, rising most in the first 15 days.

History and sources

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

A price list of October 1851 in the notarial archive of Camerino lists Ciauscolo by name. The name is said to come from "ciabusculum", a small snack. PGI by Regulation (EC) 729/2009; the specification was amended in 2025.

  1. [cdc-trichinella] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, How to Prevent Trichinellosis (12 March 2024)gov
  2. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov
  3. [masaf-ciauscolo] Ministero dell'agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste (MASAF), Disciplinare di produzione della IGP Ciauscolo (consolidated after the 2025 amendment), articles 2 and 5spec
  4. [eu-ciauscolo-2025] European Commission 2025, Communication of approval of a standard amendment, Ciauscolo PGI (PGI-IT-0557-AM01), with single document, Official Journal C, C/2025/3944, 16.7.2025, and its corrigendum C/2025/90092 (fat/protein ratio at most 3.10), read via the EU Publications Office cellarspec
  5. [ranucci2016] Ranucci D. et al. 2016, Effect of selected starter cultures on physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics and biogenic amine content in Protected Geographical Indication Ciauscolo salami, Italian Journal of Food Safety 5(1):5568paper