Making salame/chorizo in hot, humid environments

[endless autumn]

Forgive my ignorance, but wondered if anyone could help...

Is it possible to make cured (i.e. dried/ semi-dried) chorizo/ salami in hot and humid environments?

I will be living somewhere with typical 90% humidity and temperatures >30C, and no airconditioning/ cool rooms. Is it possible to leave meats to hang in these conditions?

[Chris Amirault]

Oh, come on! Surely someone has some thoughts on this subject. I'm very interested to know myself....

[iriee]

you can cure your salami's in humid conditions just to start the process but it will have to go into a drier area to finish or it will just not cure safely and end up rotting out on you.

[polack]

you can cure your salami's in humid conditions just to start the process but it will have to go into a drier area to finish or it will just not cure safely and end up rotting out on you.

←

If you have an old working refrigerator that's not frost free, you can dry cure in it. You want to have the temp. around 40 to 50 F when dry curing.

[Ore]

What we look for is a high humidity location - the hot temperature wont last the whole year...will it? Normally, in the summer time, yes, it gets hot, but then cools down - usually in the summer time our cantina has a much more 'full on' scent of delicious cured meats...salame and cualtello - i dont think you will have a prob...but I want to know where you are doing this...city?

Ore

[endless autumn]

What we look for is a high humidity location - the hot temperature wont last the whole year...will it?  Normally, in the summer time, yes, it gets hot, but then cools down - usually in the summer time our cantina has a much more 'full on' scent of delicious cured meats...salame and cualtello - i dont think you will have a prob...but I want to know where you are doing this...city?

Ore

←

I think it's unlikely to get that cool: I will be in Malawi towards the end of the rainy season. At night it could be cool-ish, but if it isn't pouring with rain (and even if it is) it will still be rather warm (80+F).

I will have a go and see what happens - though I'm a little worried about various bugs laying eggs in them...

[kellytree]

Check out and see if any of the neighbors are curing any kind of meat.

If they arent than chances are that is probably won't work too well.

[endless autumn]

Check out and see if any of the neighbors are curing any kind of meat.

If they arent than chances are that is probably won't work too well.

←

The neighbours cure meat either by hot-smoking it, or drying it in the sun. They preserve a lot of fish (mostly small) and some tarry lumps of meat this way, but the results aren't necessarily that appetising.

(There are a lot of things Malawians don't do simply because they don't have access to the ingredients or equipment, so although it may seem a good guide as to whether curing like this is possible, it doesn't dishearten me too much that it isn't much practised.)

I suppose hot-smoking might be a way to go, but the local wood isn't that great: there's a large Eucalyptus plantation nearby, pine is sometime brought down from the forests up the mountains, and the native miombo (is this right?) woodland is protected... I think this explains the tarriness of the smoked meats.

I guess I may have to try a sort of salting, but the salt they have is fairly nasty: iodine-enhanced rock salt, as the sea is so far away.

I'm sure I'll work something out...

[jmolinari]

You can do what i did (i'm in Atlanta, pretty hot/humid in summer, cool/dry in winter) and set up a curing chamber from an old fridge. It'll need a temperature controller, and a humidity controller controlling a humidifier...

jason

[CHARCUTIER]

I would suggest that the Malawian climate might adversely affect your salami making. The problem is not with the humidity, but with the heat. For my first attempt at salami making, I hung the salami in an attic, and it proved to be much too warm, with the result that the outide of the salami dried rather fast, wihlst the middle remained moist. So the salami was hard to the touch, but almost runny when cut open. Not particularly appetising, I'm sure you would agree.

Also, the problem with a salami drying out too fast is that the pork may not be sufficiently cured by the time it is dry, resulting in a significant danger of botulism.

A fridge, as suggested above, may be your only option. Having said that, some parts of Malawi (I remember the area around Livingstonia being fairly cool) may have the right kind of climate.

Enjoy the beautiful lake and, if you like that kind of thing, the incomparable Malawi Gold!