Drying Salami

I bought a salami ring from a butcher and when I unwrapped it at home I noticed that the salami was still soft[:0]

In the butchery the salamis were hanging high up and I now guess for drying.

What should I watch out for while the salami is continuing to dry? Any recommendations for where I should put it? It smells yummy, though

The last one we bought the guy selling it said to put it in the cupboard for a couple of days before putting it in the fridge. Ours got left out for about a week, but I think that was too long.

Hmm, I was wondering more about the air drying thing - ours is soft, meaning squishy. Was yours firm when you bought it, Moggy?

In Hugh Withersomething-Fernwhatsit's 'Pig in a Day', they say to hang home-made salami and chorizos somewhere dry and breezy for at least 3 weeks, and up to 6 to 8 weeks.

Only some salamis are designed to be dried, in NZ. In parts of the world with the correct temperatures and the correct bacteria, it is unlikely that botulism will grow. In Italy and other warm European and Asian countries, botulism is a huge problem, because it is the most toxic poison for humans. 1 one-millionth of a gram will kill an adult. In warm European countries and hot NZ, this problem is got over to a huge extent by innoculating the salami with the right bacteria, and holding them at the correct temperature for the right bacteria to grow, which should stop the Clostridium botulinum growing.
So, unless you know that the salami that you have bought is designed to be dried (in which situation it should be dry when you buy it), either store it in the fridge and eat it moist, or dry it out in a food dehydrator or oven at over 45C.

Do not do what we did!!!! We bought some and decided to store it hanging in our basement where it was cool and dry. Not a good plan if you also shut the cat in as well!!!!

Many thanks. I think I will discard it then because I hadn't put it into the fridge and it has been lying around during all the hot weather we had. Don't want to get botulism (and never intended to get botox injections ).

simkin I would not have thought that botulism would be likely in this situation. Botulism requires anaerobic respiration in order to multiply, so I would doubt something left out in the air would be an issue. Botulism in meat usually arises from improperly canned meat, not cured meat.

Why do you not ring the butcher and ask them what you're supposed to do to it?

I often-times ring and pretend I'm blonde

Many people are very, very nice. Including _ _ _ who I had to ring yesterday about AI for my one cow {blush}.

moggy, many cases of botulism have happened overseas (not yet in NZ) from salamis being left to dry in air. The interior of the salami is quite low in oxygen. The risk of botulism is very low, but the risk is there. Actually there is more likelihood of foodpoisoning from another bacteria.

Longridge. For the salami to have botulism inside, surely it would first have to have the bacteria, in which case eating it before it was dried would carry the same risk. With anything there is always a risk, but home canned veggies would be much higher.

It is the poisonous by-product of the bacterias growth that is poisonous, so the bacteria must grow before the poison is made. The human gut is too acidic for Clostridium growth to occur.

LR, it can in children

I used to own a delicatessen. We sold heaps of salami. All we did was buy them from the manufacturer, keep them in the fridge until required and hang them above the counter and they dried in the air. And this was from a whole range of different suppliers and different types of salami. As usual, longridge talks again about something he has no intimate knowledge of. To much information is as bad as not enough.

Thank you again for saving our salami

I did go back to the butcher (they were on holiday until very recently) and there is no chance of botulism bacteria being enclosed because of the process they use to make the salami