Salame Cremona

Salame Cremona (Cremona salami) is a large dry-cured pork sausage from the Po plain, a PGI since 2007. A 6 mm mince with salt, spices, pepper and crushed garlic is stuffed into natural casing at least 65 mm wide and aged for at least 5 weeks. The slice is soft, deep red and spicy-scented.

Between 1599 and 1606 Bishop Cesare Speciano toured his diocese, and the records of his visits note that nuns were served salami on meat days. Older still, documents of 1231 in the State Archive of Cremona record trade in pigs and pork with neighbouring states. In the 1950s–70s the name was written into bilateral protection agreements with Germany, France, Austria and Spain.

Italian Large White and Landrace pigs and sons of Duroc boars are slaughtered at 9–15 months, with an average live weight per batch of 144–176 kg. The mix uses carcass muscle and fat; mechanically separated meat is banned. Still white or red wine, sugars, starter cultures and nitrite are up to the maker.

Connective tissue, soft fat and nerves are trimmed away, then the meat is minced through 6 mm holes and mixed for a long time. The casing may be pig, beef, horse or sheep gut. The sticks rest no more than a day in the cold at 2–10 °C, then dry in warmth at 15–25 °C and age at 11–16 °C with good air exchange. The minimum under EU Regulation 1362/2007 is 5 weeks, and the exact time depends on the calibre.

Italians have a word for this slice, «smelmato»: lean and fat cling together so their edges blur. The colour is deep red, the texture soft, the smell spicy.

Salame Felino can be quite small, from 200 g; it is firm and comes only in natural pig casing. Cremona weighs at least 500 g and starts at 65 mm across. Salame Piacentino is minced coarsely at 14–18 mm and made only in Piacenza province, while Cremona comes from four regions.

On the label, «Salame Cremona» and «Indicazione Geografica Protetta» must be in the largest print. It is sold whole, in pieces or sliced under vacuum or protective atmosphere, and production and slicing take place only in the controlled area.

Why this matters to you: if someone tells you real Cremona salami is made only in the town of Cremona, that is not so; the area covers Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Veneto. Trust the PGI mark, not the address. And remember this is a classic Salami from the Dry-cured sausages family: never cooked, its flavour comes from pig, salt and fermentation.