Salumificio Pedrazzoli: interview with Simone Contrari

Simone is the representative of Salumificio Pedrazzoli for us; he is a determined, highly professional, and competent man. With great attention and openness, he answered our questions...

Q+ – What is it? Where does it come from?
Q+ is the luxury food line of Salumificio Pedrazzoli. It represents a range of high-quality products with distinctive packaging and an eye-catching design. I emphasize "superior quality" because excellent cured meat deserves excellent packaging. In 2008, we won the award for best packaging for the Q+ Zampone at Tuttofood Milan.
The design of the packaging came from an idea by the owner about six years ago. It was developed over time and continues to evolve to meet the needs of a niche clientele. For example, the Padus used to have a square package, but for the past four years, it has had an innovative cylindrical container, and it will change again in the future.

Are all Salumificio Pedrazzoli products organic?
Salumificio Pedrazzoli offers three main product lines:

The Biologica line, called Primavera, where all cold cuts are organic; with no preservatives, gluten-free, as discussed here.
The Conventional line, known as the Red Line, featuring traditional cured meats.
The Luxury Food line, called Q+, with ultra-traditional cured meats.
All our cured meats are made using traditional and artisanal techniques. We are also listed in the celiac disease manual, as all products in all three lines are gluten-free.

This way, we aim to meet the diverse needs of individual consumers and reach a variety of customer types.

Why should a consumer choose your speck instead of that from South Tyrol?
Because it’s essential to know where the cured meats come from and how they’re made. In our production, there are no external companies involved. We were the first in Italy to take care of our products from start to finish, starting with the raw material—our pigs—and continuing through to packaging. The entire production chain is managed within our family-run company, located between Lombardy and Emilia Romagna. It starts with the land, the grains for the pigs, and we transform them into the final product. We also received the animal welfare award in Paris for non-intensive farming. Our pigs are free-range, on straw bedding, and that’s why we call them “the happy pigs.”

From the countryside to the table, it’s all Pedrazzoli! That’s an advantage we want people to know and appreciate.

Are all the cured meats produced by you?
Yes, all the products are made entirely by us and are carefully managed throughout the entire production process.

Which product do you like the most, and which one the least?
My favorite is the Padus. Its flavor is unique, and it’s entirely made using traditional methods without any machinery. It’s tied by hand and aged for 4 or 5 months in a custom-built underground cellar for curing. I also like it because, if I need to bring a gift and don’t want to give the usual bottle of wine, the Padus, with its elegant cylindrical packaging, is a great alternative. It’s a combination of aesthetics and quality. I must say I love all the products, but if I had to choose one I like the least, it would be the pancetta coppata.

What are the latest food products you’ve launched on the market?
One of the latest products we released was the Salame delle Nebbie, a cured meat made the way it used to be at home. It was launched in August/September 2014. Only the finest parts of the pig are used for its production. The name recalls the fog commonly found in the cold months of the Po Valley, an inseparable companion to traditional butchery.

How do you choose new cured meats? Through market research or passion?
New products are chosen with the goal of differentiating our market with niche items. The Q+ line, in particular, revives cured meats that already existed but are made in a way that gives them added value.

Do the distinctive names like Gonzaghetta come from you, or are they part of tradition?
Aside from classic cured meats, for niche products, we try to give names that evoke tradition and the place of origin. For example, Gonzaghetta takes its name from the Gonzaga family, who ruled Mantua from 1328, and from the town of Gonzaga in the same province. Similarly, the name Padus refers to the Po Valley, from the ancient Latin name of the Po River, where fog is common, and traditional butchery is practiced.

What is the “Bio is cool” project about?
It’s a great project aimed at selling organic products within traditional retail outlets. To avoid contamination with slicers or knives, these products are sold in pre-sliced trays or small packaged pieces. You can find them in the refrigerated counters of butcher shops and delis. In the store, customers can find the refrigerator indicated by little paw prints drawn on the floor. Here in Verona, we are already in 3 or 4 stores, and across Italy, we are in at least 100 stores since early June 2014.

Do you have plans for the future?
Yes, we have a project for the coming years to produce a cooked ham without preservatives, nitrites, or nitrates of any kind. We will be the first in the world to do this. Naturally, it will be gray in color, as cooked meat should be.