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Meat from Croatia

Baranjski kulen PGIBaranjski kulen

Baranjski kulen is a fermented sausage from Baranja in north-eastern Croatia. Pork ground at 8 mm is seasoned with paprika, garlic and pepper and stuffed into a pig's caecum, then conditioned, cold-smoked, fermented and matured. The finished sausage has at most 40 % water and at least 29 % protein.

Fully documentedMeat7 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes the meat-to-fat ratio and the cuts but not the amounts of salt and spice.
Pork meat and fat90:10 meat to fatAt least 80 % of the meat from ham and loin, the rest from shoulder; skin, sinew and soft fat removed[eu-baranjski-2015]
Ground paprika, garlic, black pepper and saltSweet and hot paprika; no nitrite in the study batches[eu-baranjski-2015][kusec2025]
Pig caecum (katica)Must be filled completely; it sets the oval shape[eu-baranjski-2015]
Starterspontaneous in the traditional product, which is a naturally fermented sausage with fresh garlic and sucrose and no other additives as far as the study authors know; an industrial version adds starter cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 7 days

Start
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What changes: Chilled pork is ground at 8 mm and mixed with paprika, garlic and pepper

Step 1 of 4
Temper the meat and prepare the filling
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Ham, loin and shoulder are trimmed and ground at 8 mm, then mixed with paprika, garlic, pepper and salt.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Baranjski kulen is a fermented sausage from Baranja in north-eastern Croatia. Pork ground at 8 mm is seasoned with paprika, garlic and pepper and stuffed into a pig's caecum, then conditioned, cold-smoked, fermented and matured. The finished sausage has at most 40 % water and at least 29 % protein. Made in 4 steps over 7 days. The longest step, condition, cold-smoke and ferment, takes 7 days (Kušec G 2025) and runs at 18–20 °C (Kušec G 2025). Staphylococcus equorum and Lactobacillus curvatus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step7 daysReported[kusec2025]Condition, cold-smoke and ferment
Temperature18–20 °CReported[kusec2025]Condition, cold-smoke and ferment
AciditypH 5.3–5.3Measured[kusec2025]Mature

What makes this one different

Baranjski kulen adds black pepper, which Slavonski kulen does not use; the pepper came from the salami makers of southern Hungary. Its meat is ground at a fixed 8 mm and the fat share is fixed at 10 %.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Kulen from different pork chainsKulen from Black Slavonian pigs had more fat (25.97 %) and less protein (30.19 %) than kulen from crossbred or hybrid pigs.

Safety

The specification caps water at 40 % in the finished kulen. Studied batches reached water activity 0.84–0.85, inside the 0.70–0.91 range the authors give for fermented cured meats. That limits growth, but this is raw pork eaten without cooking. Curing, drying and smoking alone do not consistently kill Trichinella worms in pork (CDC). CDC tells people who are pregnant, 65 or older or have a weakened immune system to avoid unheated fermented or dry sausages, or to heat them until steaming hot.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The first written mention of kulen from Baranja is in the works of folklorist Nikola Tordinac (1858–1888). Its forerunner "Pannonski kulin" was made in Karanac around the turn of the 19th century, and after the Second World War most was made at the Belje plant in Beli Manastir. The name was entered in the EU register as a PGI by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1579 of 9 September 2015.

  1. [cdc-trichinella] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, How to Prevent Trichinellosis (12 March 2024)gov
  2. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov
  3. [eu-baranjski-2015] European Commission 2015, Publication of an application, Baranjski kulen PGI (HR-PGI-0005-01207), single document, Official Journal C 139, 28.4.2015, p. 5 (CELEX 52015XC0428(01)), read via the EU Publications Office cellarspec
  4. [eu-reg-2015-1579] European Commission 2015, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1579 of 9 September 2015 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications [Baranjski kulen (PGI)], Official Journal L 246, 23.9.2015, p. 7, read via the EU Publications Office cellarspec
  5. [kusec2025] Kušec G., Djurkin Kušec I., Gvozdanović K., Komlenić M., Krvavica M. et al. 2025, Quality characteristics of Baranjski kulen (PGI) fermented sausage from three pork production chains, Foods 14(20):3473paper
  6. [simunec2022] Šimunec V., Bertoša R., Šporec A., Lukić I., Nejašmić D., Lovrić M., Dodig I., Vahčić N., Butorac A. 2022, Comparison of traditional and industrial sausages baranjski kulen and kulenova seka using comprehensive proteome, peptidome and metabolome techniques, Food Technology and Biotechnology 60(2)paper