Sometimes you keep wondering what gives sausages the piquant flavor and the aroma that appeals to meat lovers. The thing is, Fermento is doing all this. The Fermento, in other words, is referred to as a sausage maker that when you are making your sausages, you need to know what Fermento is and how it works. It generally helps you make and prepare the best sausages.
Fermento is a fermentation starter that works mainly in preparing fermented semi-dry-cured products, especially sausages. Fermento is the crucial ingredient that links the tangy flavor since it is a dairy-based product used for summer sausages. It has some advantages when you add it to your food that you want.
The guide below will explain Fermento, what it is made from, and how you use it. After that, there will be frequently asked questions and the conclusion.
What is Fermento?
Fermento is sold, and it is in the form of powder since it is a dairy-based starter culture and its main ingredients are skim milk and cultured whey protein. Fermento contains some good features that help minimize the growth of harmful bacteria in the food. The only thing you need with it is to increase the growth of good bacteria that is important for fermentation.
Since Fermento is mainly used with summer sausages, you should not keep it in a fridge or freezer. There are other substitutes for the Fermento, including citric acid, Prague powder number 1, and dextrose monohydrate.
Benefits of the Fermento
Since most people prefer Fermento in the fermentation process for drying and smoking sausages, there must be something good with it, like it works fast with the process. Below are the few advantages that the Fermento can help to prepare better quality sausages.
- After using it, it gives a tangy smell to the food and starts the starter culture process that makes the fermentation process faster. Therefore, when you have sausages and add the Fermento, the mixture begins smoking immediately and dries too. The tangy smell it enhances attracts one to it.
- Fermento minimizes the curing time in the fermentation process, whereby it takes only three months and produces quality sausages. You add Fermento, which will speed up the process and production time i.e. reduce and take a few days.
- As a starter culture, it helps produce lactic acid and bacteria necessary for the process of meat fermentation. The bacteria have the effects of color and taste of the meat when it is good. On the other side, Lactic acid helps make the food safe for consumption.
- Fermento makes food safe to consume by reducing harmful bacteria with the meat. Harmful bacteria growing in food makes food unsuitable for consumption and can lead to infections in the body.
- It minimizes the growth of harmful bacteria while boosting the production of good bacteria, which is suitable for fermenting sausages. Fermento increases the growth of good bacteria and helps the food dry, and adds nutrients to the food. It generally maintains the production of harmful bacteria and good bacteria that will otherwise lead to food poisoning when they are not produced in the right quantities.
Types for sausages that use Fermento
Mainly Fermento is used to prepare summer sausages; summer sausages are any sausages that do not need to be stored in a fridge until they are open. They tend to last longer since they have a lower PH and faster increase in bacteria. The sausage is a result of:
- Mix of beef
- Pork
Summer sausages have a tangy flavor due to the blends of ingredients in curing salt, garlic salt, mustard seeds, and sugar. Summer sausages are fermented sausages that you can either smoke or dry.
The different types of summer sausages include the following:
- Longaniza
- Cervelat
- Goteborg
- Chorizo
- Salchichon
- Fuet
Fermento produces semi-dry and traditional dry-cured sausages, which are two main fermented sausages. The only difference is that they have a different amount of moisture they lose during the curing process.
Semi-dry sausages are in between dry and fresh sausages and are partly smoked since they are mostly made from beef.
Dry-cured sausages are raw sausages, but they are produced by storing them in air and room temperature, making them collect yeast and other cultures that help with the fermentation process. In this case, most people choose to use pork since they produce dry-cured sausages.
All fermented sausages contain fat, strong bacteria culture, different types of salt, spices, sugar, nitrite, and other ingredients except meat.
Amount of Fermento to use when preparing sausages
Generally, it is advisable to use one ounce of Fermento for every two pounds of meat or twenty-eight grams for every 0.90 kilograms. That shows you need to use around three percent of the Fermento for the amount of meat you have at the place. However, the amount of Fermento to use varies depending on the type of Fermento you are using and the type of meat you want to use. That at some point can be challenging when preparing sausages.
After using the right amount of Fermento with the right side of the meat, then you are good to continue with the packaging process. When it comes to packaging and storing, you can easily find between 1 oz to 50lbs of Fermento sold in the market that depends on the supplier.
When it comes to the market which is the product’s price, it also depends on the place you always purchase your Fermento form such that the Fermento is popular and it much easier to get hold of.
Frequently asked question:
- What are the best substitutes for Fermento?
When you are not able to access the Fermento since it is a rare product, you can choose to get its alternatives which are as follows: citric acid, buttermilk powder, dextrose monohydrate, and Prague powder number 1; the substitutes have the same nutrients as Fermento and work the same way.
- Where can one buy Fermento from?
Suppose you need to get Fermento products to consider visiting your local store or buying online. The only amount of Fermento you can get in most markets is between 1 oz. To 50lbs depending on the supplier and packaging.
- Can one freeze summer sausage?
Yes, one can freeze summer sausages for ten months, but before doing it, you need to wrap them in a large piece of freezer paper. After that, you need to tape the edges of the article to secure that sausage tightly, label the link with a date and place it into the freezer.
Conclusion
Now you know what Fermento is, what makes it, and how to work with it to make the sausages. Drying and smoking sausages are complicated since the links are very delicate to handle, and it can take much time for the procedure. The Fermento has helped a lot in the fermentation process of sausages, and other meat products are becoming much more straightforward.
There are several reasons it is good to choose to use Fermento for the sausages since, first, it helps produce good bacteria and reduces the growth of harmful bacteria. At the same time, it increases the speed of the curing process and the fermentation process of meat. At last, it gives the sausages a particular taste and color too.