The Salami Bloom...
Bloom? A strange word when talking about salami...
Bloomy rind cheeses might be more familiar to you?
Indeed, it's the term commonly used by cheesemakers or cured meat producers to describe the surface covering of a saucisson or cheese. The salami bloom is a mixture of diverse microorganisms (mainly moulds, a few yeasts) that grow on the casing of a dry-cured saucisson or the rind of a cheese.
The bloom on our salamis is natural and from Ardèche!
Natural Bloom
It's a mixture of several "wild" moulds, as they say in microbiological jargon, that grow on a natural pork casing.
It is initially white, then green and abundant.
As the saucissons dry, it sporulates, becomes shorter, and tends towards grey.
Ardèche Bloom
The salami bloom is found on most Ardèche saucissons thanks to a regional recipe (particularly the use of natural casings) and the mid-mountain climate with alternating mistral (dry and cold north wind) and southern wind (warm and humid).
Variable Bloom
The variability of the casings (depending on the pigs) and the climate explain why this bloom fluctuates in terms of abundance and colour (a palette of white, green, and grey).
But in all cases, the salami bloom needs time to develop on our saucissons.
It imparts forest floor aromas, slows down the drying of the saucissons, and allows the meat to express all its flavours.
The Mission of La Boutique des Saucissons
To make Ardèche saucissons known and appreciated throughout France!
In the 1980s-90s, mass distribution and standardised products boomed. Distributors considered this natural bloom a drawback, and most cured meat producers replaced it with a white mould from laboratory-cultivated strains or even talc, which are easier to control... And consumers eventually got used to it (a bit like the very pink colour of ham). In the 1990s, most saucissons were predominantly white.
Our challenge?
To introduce traditional Ardèche saucisson to as many people as possible, to "export" it outside Ardèche... During all this time, of course, the people of Ardèche still ate their salamis with natural bloom traditionally made by local butchers and distributed locally... For this, we are counting on you! Tell everyone about the story of the natural salami bloom (no, that grey-green colour is not a defect), this beautiful tradition, and especially let them taste it because we know well: to try it is to adopt it :)
Through experience and practice, we have maintained our expertise while increasing production. The process is now well under control. It's a daily adaptation to master this wild bloom that has a mind of its own... And yes, it remains natural!
But what a pleasure it is to walk through the drying rooms amidst an abundance of colours and aromas released by these saucissons.
And what about health?
Can we eat the skin of our saucissons and therefore this salami bloom?
Absolutely, as these saucissons have been consumed for several hundred years. The saucisson from Largentière is mentioned in the "gazetin du comestible," a periodical published in the 18th century.
The bloom has the advantage of covering and thus protecting the saucisson; it occupies the space and doesn't leave room for undesirable microorganisms. Even for the smallest "critters," it's all about competition...
For our part, we wanted to learn more about our bloom and researched the nature and harmlessness of the main mould strains composing it (microbiological identification, genome sequencing by molecular biology). The main strains of our mould belong to the Penicillium family. Penicillium, penicillin, does that ring a bell? A famous antibiotic commonly used to fight microbial infections. So, could our bloom be a nutraceutical? There's a good chance it's beneficial for our intestinal flora because it diversifies our microbiota :)
