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Meat from Romania

Salam de Sibiu PGISalam de Sibiu

Salam de Sibiu is a Romanian dried raw salami with a white noble mould. Pork and hard fat are chopped to the size of a grain of rice, seasoned and filled into wide casings, cold-smoked over Romanian beech or oak for 3 to 10 days, sprayed with Penicillium nalgiovense spores and matured and dried for at least 60 days to 30 % moisture or less.

Fully documentedMeat2.4 months – 2.7 monthsPGI (Reg. (EU) 2016/234)

Recipe

Salam de Sibiu PGI, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Julieta39, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceShares of the meat batter as set by the PGI specification; producers fix their own exact recipe.
PorkAt least 70 %Trimmed of bone, soft fat, tendons and cartilage; from pigs over 100 kg live weight[eu-sibiu-2015]
Hard fatAt most 30 %[eu-sibiu-2015]
Food saltAt most 5 %Sea salt is not allowed[eu-sibiu-2015]
Pepper, allspice and garlic[eu-sibiu-2015]
Salt mixed with sodium nitrite or nitrate[eu-sibiu-2015]
Ascorbic acid or its salts[eu-sibiu-2015]
Starter and/or bioprotective cultures, with sugarsSugars at most 1 %[eu-sibiu-2015]
Wine, brandy, vinars, sparkling wine or stoutAt most 3 % (optional)Only for named limited editions[eu-sibiu-2015]
Starterstarter and/or bioprotective cultures in the mix; surface sprayed with Penicillium nalgiovense spores

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.4 months – 2.7 months

Start
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What changes: Pork and hard fat are chopped to the size of rice grains

Step 1 of 7
Chop meat and fat in a bowl cutter
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Penicillium nalgiovense
Penicillium
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

Salam de Sibiu is a Romanian dried raw salami with a white noble mould. Pork and hard fat are chopped to the size of a grain of rice, seasoned and filled into wide casings, cold-smoked over Romanian beech or oak for 3 to 10 days, sprayed with Penicillium nalgiovense spores and matured and dried for at least 60 days to 30 % moisture or less. Made in 7 steps over 2.4 months – 2.7 months. The longest step, mature, brush and dry in climate-controlled stores, takes at least 2 months (Single document 2014) and runs at 10–15 °C (Single document 2014). Salt is up to 5 % (Single document 2014). Penicillium nalgiovense, sprayed on the surface alone or in a Penicillium mixture that must include it does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 monthsSet[eu-sibiu-2015]Mature, brush and dry in climate-controlled stores
Temperature10–15 °CSet[eu-sibiu-2015]Mature, brush and dry in climate-controlled stores
Saltup to 5 %Set[eu-sibiu-2015]Knead with the salt and seasoning mix, antioxidants and cultures

What makes this one different

Salam de Sibiu is cold-smoked and then deliberately sprayed with Penicillium nalgiovense, and acid makers such as glucono delta-lactone are banned. The protected Szeged téliszalámi relies on the house mould flora of its ripening rooms; its specification allows no mould starter.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Limited editions with wine, brandy or stoutUp to 3 % of an alcoholic maturation agent, named in the product name.

Safety

The specification sets at most 30 % moisture and under 50 mg/kg nitrite in the finished salami, and requires Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella to be absent in 25 g. These are figures for controlled production, not a home method. Washington State University Extension does not recommend making dry sausage at home, because S. aureus toxin can form if fermentation is not rigidly controlled.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella must be absent in 25 g of the finished salami; E. coli 500–5 000 CFU/g.

History and sources

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

The specification says it was first known as salam de iarnă (winter salami) and took its present name from exports through the Sibiu customs post; it appears on menus and in advertisements from 1890. Romanian Wikipedia says some sources credit its start to the Italian Filippo Dozzi in Sinaia in 1910. PGI since Reg. (EU) 2016/234 of 9 February 2016.

  1. [wsu-sausage] Washington State University Extension, Homemade Meat, Poultry, and Game Sausages (EB1661)gov
  2. [eu-sibiu-2015] Single document: 'Salam de Sibiu', EU No RO-PGI-0005-01280 — 21.11.2014, Official Journal of the European Union C 329, 6.10.2015, p. 20 (CELEX 52015XC1006(03))spec
  3. [s2] Romanian Wikipedia, Salam de Sibiuwiki
  4. [eu-reg-2016-234] Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/234 of 9 February 2016 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications [Salam de Sibiu (PGI)], Official Journal L 44, 19.2.2016, p. 6 (CELEX 32016R0234)spec