I went to downtown Sonoma by the historic plaza today , with a friend visting from Sweden. The place is historic because its the birthplace of the state, (the Bear Flag revolt June 14, 1846) and 
home to California's last mission. While I had my mind set to pick up some local artisan cheeses, (which I did) dairy is not what I'm going to write about. Instead this is about something else I really enjoy: salami. After some googling, I discovered that San Francisco is apparently the home to America's best Italian salami, after a curious salami war 1967-70, according to a 2003 story in the LA Times. According to Wikipedia, the term "Italian Salame" is a protected term for salami made in the United States.
home to California's last mission. While I had my mind set to pick up some local artisan cheeses, (which I did) dairy is not what I'm going to write about. Instead this is about something else I really enjoy: salami. After some googling, I discovered that San Francisco is apparently the home to America's best Italian salami, after a curious salami war 1967-70, according to a 2003 story in the LA Times. According to Wikipedia, the term "Italian Salame" is a protected term for salami made in the United States.In the back of my mind, I remembered the taste of some some terrific salami, back in Sweden (I don't know what kind); I really wanted to find something similar or hopefully even better. My first local salami-purchase-attempt wasn't anywhere close. Luckily for me, the proprietor to Vella Cheese Company, Mr. Ig Vella, who recognized my stepfather told me to try Colombus Salame Secchi. So of course I bought some from him, (together with three of his cheeses no less). After coming home from some winetasting at Sebastiani and Kunde Wineries, I couldn't wait very long to cut into the salami. (Life is good?)
The verdict? This was just the type of salami I was looking for: a mellow tasting, made the old-fashioned way, beautifully moldy, tied-by-hand and aged in natural casing, a locally hand-crafted salami. This was simply put, a truly wonderful salami "chub" in my opinion. I'll keep my eyes open for other Columbus 'artisan' line of salamis, a few of their common products are not that exciting, but the Secchi Salami was truly a classic match for my tastebuds.
A few other local quality San Francisco salami makers:
As an example of a cheap made salami I guess is Gallo Salami: "corn syrup and synthetic casings" don't belong in a salami, in my opinion. They are knowadays owned by the huge Sara Lee corporation. Like another blogger said: "they spend very little on the ingredients and a ton of money on advertising".
1 comment:
If a Salami made in California 8s called "Italian Dry Salami", it is made the traditional cured Italian way. This includes Gallo.
If it aldo comes with a whitish casing (too rare nowadays, and generally limited to the largest chubs), it is quite worth eating.
I grew up on Gallo, and Columbus is very similar, as is Molinari.
They are all a variant of a mild Italian Salumi (cured meat) with peppercorns.
Post a Comment