Why It's Called Summer Sausage, And What Makes It Different From Other Types

When the days get longer and the nights get warmer, carnivorous foodies start craving the sweet, tangy, smoky taste of summer sausage. In case you've ever wondered, it's called "summer sausage" not because you should eat it during the summertime, but because (before the advent of refrigeration) you could. Like many types of cured meat, summer sausage traces back to the foodies of Europe, who were curing and fermenting their meats as a pre-refrigeration preservation method. The name "summer sausage" is a nod to this particular meat's ultra spoilage-resistant, shelf-stable longevity. Summer sausage harnesses the power of three different preservation methods: Curing, drying, and fermenting. Sometimes, summer sausage is even smoked, too. Thanks to these food-safety strongholds, summer sausage could be safely enjoyed on intensely hot summer days, even when other cured meats could not (talk about "beating the heat").

Salting, smoking, and drying are standard sausage-making methods for reducing meat's moisture content. Comparatively, summer sausage is less dry than other dried, cured meats like Spanish chorizo and Italian salami, losing about 15% of its natural moisture. For a hardier shelf life, healthy microorganisms are introduced to summer sausage during its fermentation process. Lactobacillus bacteria, which is also the active player in other fermented foods like yogurt, lowers the meat's pH by converting the sugars into lactic acid. That lower pH makes summer sausage even more resistant to harmful bacteria growth — and the fermentation byproduct also creates its distinctive tangy flavor. 

Summer sausage originally hails from the sausage-making traditions of Germany, Poland, and other European regions. Nowadays, gifting loved ones a log of summer sausage for Christmas is a common tradition in the American South, stemming from the first wave of German immigration to Texas Hill Country. The area remains home to a thriving foodie scene.

Summer sausage is typically made from a mixture of pork and beef, ground with a seasoning blend of salt, sugar, garlic, coriander, black pepper, and mustard seed. The mixture is then cased and fermented. Some preparations also throw game meat like venison into the mix, but this is less common. To finish, summer sausage is dry-aged, smoked, or both.

To enjoy, summer sausage is snacked on as-is or utilized in cooking. This sweet-savory-tangy marvel can be used to build the ultimate charcuterie board (and meat should be the first thing you add to any board, by the way). It pairs especially well washed down with a German-style pilsner, like Beck's. Or, for cooking, summer sausage makes a toothy addition to soups, stews, casseroles, pastas, quiches, and omelets. It could even be used as a pizza or flatbread topping. Fully-cured, summer sausage is ready to enjoy straight out of the casing. Once you've sliced into the log, it's a good idea to pop it in the fridge to keep it as fresh for as long as possible. Refrigerated, it'll keep for up to a full month.