18 - Semicooked and fully cooked fermented salami

Abstract

As time is always associated with cost, and this is especially the case when products such as salami are dried and fermented, semi-cooked products are a happy medium between raw fermented and fully cooked products. Semi-cooked fermented salami are predominantly produced following the fast-fermentation process. Several countries in the world do not permit the production of these semi-cooked semi-raw products, insisting instead that a product is either raw fermented and dried (non-heat-treated) or fully heat-treated to a temperature of 70–72oC in the core. Fully cooked fermented salami is a salami product produced within the shortest possible time. Products produced this way are commonly used as pizza toppings or cut into small cubes to be further processed in fillings or sauces. Owing to acidification, the fully thermally treated product still has a slight typical salami taste and flavor. A large majority of fully cooked fermentable salami products are sold under heavy price constraints. Therefore, manufacturers try to lose as little weight as possible from the salami during production.