The Best Italian Culatello

Culatello di Zibello: a bit of history

It is said that already in 1332, at the wedding banquet of Andrea dei Conti Rossi and Giovanna dei Conti Sanvita, some Culatelli were served there, given as a gift to the newlyweds and that even, later on, the Pallavicinos offered Culatello as a tribute to Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan. Unfortunately, there is no reliable evidence of all this.

Culatello di Zibello was mentioned for the first time in a document of the Municipality of Parma in 1735, called the “Calmiero of salted pork”, in which the prices of the products obtained from the processing of pork were listed, also being the most expensive of &' the entire list. In this document, culatello is classified as “invested” or as a sausage since it did not have the rind but was instead stuffed in a gut of animal origin, very often in the pig's bladder itself. A little fun fact: at &' at the beginning this sausage was called “investiture”, since the word Culatello was considered vulgar and in fact, only starting from the 1735 document did the term begin to be officially used.

The prestige of this sausage was attested, during the 19th and 20th centuries, by some literary quotations from prim&' order present both in the works of the Parmesan poet Giuseppe Callegari and in the correspondence between the sculptor Renato Brozzi and the famous poet Gabriele D'Annunzio. The same D&' Annunzio, in a letter from 1931, wrote to &' friend Brozzi: “Dear, I will make you smile. I am a very cupid amateur of Culatello from Parma (with one tea or with two?). Exhausted by industrious melancholy, in front of me I felt hunger pangs... As I shouted, not without ferocity: “Immediately, immediately three slices of Culatello!” , the woman appeared with your precious packages. The larger one had the conical shape of the compact thing of red and salty fiber. Oh, brother, the hallucination of hunger has snatched a cry of gratitude and happiness from me: Brozzi! A Culatello! And how did you think about it?”

Production of Culatello di Zibello

Culatello di Zibello is a charcuterie product consisting of the anatomical part of the bundle of rear and inner crural muscles of the pig's thigh, which, suitably defatted and boneless, are separated from the flake (another precious part used to produce another sausage, the Culatello Ribbon) and then trimmed by hand to obtain the classic “pear” shape.

The muscle bands thus trimmed are subjected to salting, a process that can last for a period of between one and six days and which must be done manually dry. They are then placed in cold rooms at a temperature between 0° and 5°C for enough time to absorb the salt; finally they are placed in rest cells. Salt, whole or chopped pepper and garlic are present in the salting mixture and dry white wine can also be used.

Bagging and embossing or tying can be carried out during or at the end of the rest phase. Culatello di Zibello is stuffed into the bladder or parietal and perirenal peritoneum of the pig. The two operations consist of wrapping the muscle bands in the previously mentioned envelopes and tying them with several turns of twine that, proceeding in a spiral, go from the base to the apex, intersecting with other rounds of twine arranged vertically. On the other hand, the tie of the fresh product must be well tightened in order to prevent air voids remaining inside.

Finally, the maturation period must last from a minimum of 10 months for smaller sizes of at least 3 kg, up to an average of 14 months for all the others. L&' the secret ingredient of this culinary jewel is something impalpable and mysterious: fog. A fog that creeps into &' inside the drying cellars every night d&' autumn, generating noble molds capable of giving precious flavors and smells.

Culatello di Zibello Awards

Since 1996, in recognition of its prestige and its centuries-old history, Culatello di Zibello has enjoyed the DOP (Protected Denomination of Origin) mark, a guarantee and protection of the meticulous production process. In fact, this takes place in western Emilia and in particular in the Lower Parma area and is reserved in particular for 8 municipalities, namely Polesine, Busseto, Zibello, Soragna, Roccabianca, San Secondo, Sissa and Colorno.

The production must take place between September and February, when the Lower is shrouded in fog and cold, and must be used exclusively with the meat of heavy Italian pigs weighing between 80 and 160 kg, raised between Emilia Romagna and Lombardy.