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Fermentation Atlas

Meat from Spain

Botillo del Bierzo IGPBotillo del Bierzo

Pieces of pork rib and tail, with bones, are seasoned with salt, paprika and garlic and stuffed into a pork caecum. It is smoked over oak or holm-oak for at least a day and dried for at least two more, then boiled whole before eating. It is semi-cured and only lightly fermented. Made in 5 steps over 3.5 days – 4 days. The longest step, dry and ripen, takes at least 2 days (Publication of an application for registratio…) and runs at 10–12 °C (Fuertes-Martínez J.R. et al. 2024). Salt is 1.8–2.5 % (Fuertes-Martínez J.R. et al. 2024). Lactic acid bacteria, 8.87 log CFU/g on average; mainly Lactobacillus sakei does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2 daysSet[pgi2001][fuertes2024]Dry and ripen
Temperature10–12 °CReported[fuertes2024]Dry and ripen
Salt1.8–2.5 %Reported[fuertes2024]Season and rest
Fully documentedMeat3.5 days – 4 daysPGI (IGP), Reg. (EC) No 1971/2001More meatMore from Spain

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceMeat shares from the PGI summary; salt, paprika and garlic as used by the certified makers sampled in a 2019–2022 study.
65–90 %Pork rib pieces[pgi2001]
10–20 %Pork tail pieces[pgi2001]
Up to 20 % in totalTongue, jowl, shoulder or chuck (optional) · No one of these may be more than half of that 20 %[pgi2001]
1.8–2.5 % w/wSalt[fuertes2024]
2.1–3.0 % w/wPaprika paste[fuertes2024]
0.2–0.5 % w/wGarlic paste[fuertes2024]
Pork caecum (blind gut), cured and seasoned beforehand[pgi2001]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.5 days – 4 days

Start
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What changes: Pork ribs and tail are chopped into even pieces, bone and all

Step 1 of 5
Chop ribs and tail into even pieces
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: bone-in pork pieces.

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

What makes this one different

Botillo is stuffed with bone-in rib and tail pieces rather than minced meat, and is smoked and only briefly dried, so it is cooked before eating. The PGI ties the heavy paprika to the Bierzo pepper tradition and the smoking to a climate too wet to cure by air alone.

Related ferments

Safety

Botillo is boiled before it is eaten. Its smoke adds little PAH; in a 2019–2022 study most of the PAH came from smoked paprika, and unsmoked or mixed paprika lowered it. An earlier study found benzo[a]pyrene below the 5 µg/kg limit then in force in all samples.

Hazards the sources name: Salmonella and Escherichia coli (one isolate each among 140); Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mostly from smoked paprika.

History and sources

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

The name comes from Latin botellus, a small sausage, and Apicius gives a recipe for one. The first written description of Botillo del Bierzo is in Antonio Fernández y Morales's poems in the Bierzo dialect of 1861. The PGI was registered in 2001.

  1. [pgi2001] Publication of an application for registration, Botillo del Bierzo (PGI), Official Journal of the European Communities C 42, 8.2.2001spec
  2. [fuertes2024] Fuertes-Martínez J.R. et al. 2024, Influence of smoking and paprika spice on the content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the traditional Spanish smoked sausage 'Botillo del Bierzo', Foods 13(24):4089paper
  3. [garcia2007] García Fontán M.C., Lorenzo J.M., Martínez S., Franco I., Carballo J. 2007, Microbiological characteristics of Botillo, a Spanish traditional pork sausage, LWT 40:1610–1622 (abstract)paper
  4. [lorenzo2010] Lorenzo J.M., Purriños L., Fontán M.C., Franco D. 2010, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in two Spanish traditional smoked sausage varieties, Androlla and Botillo, Meat Science 86:660–664 (abstract)paper