Storage of Umai meat products

[Olly Halleux]

Been having lots of fun with Umai over the last six months but still vague about storage. An article on the Umai website on storage of projects would be great.

I produce way more than I can eat (for example 10 lbs of Venison salami) and take great delight in giving away salami and the other things to friends. With salamis there is always the spectre of food poisoning in the back of your mind so what advice should you give to friends in terms of storage.
I.E.
*if vaccum packed how long will salami last in the fridge safely? (Helps with case hardening I gather)
*should I freeze it straight away?
*once opened (I store in wax baking paper in fridge) how long should I keep it for?
*does the guidelines change if a vaccum sealed product is defrosted and put in fridge?
*gave a friend some frozen vaccum sealed sliced capocollo, which is still in his fridge (defrosted) 5 weeks later. Still OK to eat?

Cheers
Olly

[Dave]

These are all excellent questions. I too often wonder about storage, as I’m producing 10-15 lbs of suppressata and 10 lbs of capacola at a time. I’d prefer to ration much of it out over time rather than consume it all once it become fully aged or cured and ready to eat.

[Troy Butler]

Hello Olly,
I have been doing cured meats with UMAI bags since 2013, I have had great success, I will make big batches as well, my last batch was 15 lb each of Spanish Chorizo and Fino and 5 lb each of a white truffle and a Spicy Fino also 15 lb of Capacola . I made these all on Mother’s Day weekend. Now for the storage part , I have found that both salumi and capacola and lomo will keep vacuumed sealed in food saver bags in the fridge for nine months , Thats the longest I have had any stored, I also was curious as to how long it might keep.I made a large amount last August , I pulled the last couple salumi, a fino and a chorizo and my last capacola in April 2016 , they tasted great. Great flavor and texture and I’m still alive! Lol !What I do,is I leave the product in the UMAI bag and make sure I cut one or two small cuts in the bag ,where you might have a speration or a air pocket, then I put it in the food saver bags and vacuume and seal. The reason for the small cuts is to let any air that may be in the dry bag get sucked out and let you get a real good vacuume. So 9 months is the longest I’ve gone with it . Hope this helps !!

Ya gotta love slow food!!
Troy

[Bob]

FYI According to the FDA dried sausage like soppressata, finnocia, ect. can be stored refrigerated indefinitely. Vac sealing will of course keep it from further drying during storage. I have personally stored Genoa for 1 year, and the taste was excellent……

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/3e6befc0-b62e-4168-bf4b-b3a386e3fe19/Sausage_and_Food_Safety.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

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