CASTELPOTO SAUSAGE
CASTELPOTO SAUSAGE
Castelpolto is a small location situated in the Guadina valley, at 300 m high in the province of Benevento. The “salsiccia rossa di Castelpolto” (red sausage of Castelpolto) is made by following a rigorous discipline where the breeding cattle are still conducted with old-fashoned techniques. This type of work is extremely laborious and complex. It begins by selecting different choices of meats (shoulder, ham, hitch-bone, fillet and cup), deprive them of ribs and fat and grind them into a coarse manner. Salt, wild fennel, garlic, black pepper and powder of peppers (in dialect “papauli”) are then added to the mixture.
Powder of peppers is the real peculiarity that separates this product from the others. The powder derives from small peppers, inserted with a needle, thread in a series and than hung to dry out in shady locations. After being toasted in a wooden fire, made by olive and oak tree, they are crushed manually until the out-coming poweder is very thin. Consequently a series of sausages, with a weight varying between 100 and 140 grams, are placed in natural spaces where they season for a period of time between 20 and 50 days.