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Meat from Italy

Salame Piemonte IGPSalame Piemonte

Salame Piemonte is a soft, short-matured PGI salami of marbled pork with salt, pepper, garlic, cloves, nutmeg and more than 0.25 % Piedmont PDO red wine from Nebbiolo, Barbera or Dolcetto grapes. It is stuffed into natural casings 40–90 mm wide and matured for 10 to 84 days, depending on its width. It must taste sweet and never acidic, with a pH of at least 5.2.

Fully documentedMeat10 days – 2.8 months

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceLimits as shares of the mix, from the PGI single document; producers choose the exact amounts.
Fresh marbled pork, never frozenLean from haunch, shoulder and belly; fat from belly, throat and back; carcass 110.1–180.0 kg, pigs at least nine months old[eu-piemonte-2025]
SaltAt most 3 %[eu-piemonte-2025][eu-piemonte-2015]
Pepper, whole, in pieces or groundAt most 0.4 %[eu-piemonte-2025][eu-piemonte-2015]
Garlic, cloves and nutmeg[eu-piemonte-2025][qualigeo-piemonte]
Piedmont PDO red wine from Nebbiolo, Barbera and DolcettoMore than 0.25 % by weight[eu-piemonte-2025][eu-piemonte-2015]
Sugar and/or dextrose, starter cultures, mould cultures for the casing, nitrate, nitrite, ascorbic acid (optional)Other aids that hold water in the meat are not allowed[eu-piemonte-2025]
Starterstarter cultures and fungal (mould) cultures for the casing are allowed

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days – 2.8 months

Start
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What changes: The pork cuts rest in cold, airy rooms and start to lose water

Step 1 of 5
Rest the cuts in cold, ventilated rooms
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

The lean and fat are first held in ventilated cold rooms so they start to lose water, which leaves the paste low in moisture.

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

Salame Piemonte is a soft, short-matured PGI salami of marbled pork with salt, pepper, garlic, cloves, nutmeg and more than 0.25 % Piedmont PDO red wine from Nebbiolo, Barbera or Dolcetto grapes. It is stuffed into natural casings 40–90 mm wide and matured for 10 to 84 days, depending on its width. It must taste sweet and never acidic, with a pH of at least 5.2. Made in 5 steps over 10 days – 2.8 months. The longest step, mature, takes 10 days – 2.8 months (European Commission 2025). Salt is up to 3 % (European Commission 2025). Lactic acid bacteria and cocci does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step10 days – 2.8 monthsSet[eu-piemonte-2025]Mature
Saltup to 3 %Set[eu-piemonte-2025][eu-piemonte-2015]Mince and knead with salt, spices and wine
AciditypH at least 5.2Set[eu-piemonte-2025]Mature

What makes this one different

Salame Piemonte is defined by its Piedmont PDO red wine and a short maturing time, which keeps it soft and sweet. Its maximum maturing times are set as well as its minimums.

Related ferments

Safety

The single document sets salt at most 3 %, pH at least 5.2 and a water/protein ratio of at most 2.00, and bans aids that hold water in the meat. These are figures for controlled production, not a home method. Washington State University Extension does not recommend making dry sausage at home, because S. aureus toxin can form if fermentation is not rigidly controlled.

History and sources

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

Giovanni Vialardi, cook to the House of Savoy, described a pork salami with a glass of Barbera wine in 1854. The Turin Chamber of Commerce fortnightly lists have carried Salame Piemonte since 1948. It was registered as an EU PGI in 2015.

  1. [wsu-sausage] Washington State University Extension, Homemade Meat, Poultry, and Game Sausages (EB1661)gov
  2. [eu-piemonte-2025] European Commission 2025, Communication of an approved standard amendment, 'Salame Piemonte' PGI (PGI-IT-1237-AM01), with single document, Official Journal C/2025/1002, 11.2.2025, read via the EU Publications Office cellarspec
  3. [eu-piemonte-2015] European Commission 2015, Publication of an application, single document 'Salame Piemonte' PGI, Official Journal C 75, 4.3.2015 (CELEX 52015XC0304(01))spec
  4. [qualigeo-piemonte] Fondazione Qualivita (Qualigeo), Salame Piemonte IGP product sheetweb