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Traveller’s TaleSalami and sausageson the West CoastDave Pooch, FNZIFSTBlackball Salami Ltd was set up in 1992 on the site of the village’soriginal historic butchers shop that had previously burned down. Itis on a corner site right in the middle of the village and coal minershave walked their grime past the site for over a hundred years.Phillip Russ was born and bred on the west coast in Gladstone, justa bit South of Greymouth. He never got to shift away and said it wastoo late now. His wife Debbie was a Greymouth girl and they live therestill. Phillip has been butchering ever since he left Grey High School.First an apprenticeship, then butchers shops in Hokitika, managingthe butchery at the local supermarket for eighteen years, threeseasons in the freezing works, and now running his ownbusiness. “Well, our business, not just mine.” he said witha quick glance at his wife.Debbie said she has a background in administration andreckons she has a good head for business while her husbandis good hands on in the factory. She reckons theymake a good team and I agree.But I was curious to find out what else Phillip did apart fromprocessing meat. Oh, a bit of rugby, a bit of league, some shootingand curling of course. Curling? “Oh yes, the West Coast Curling Associationhas a good pond near Mt Cheeseman and last winter it icedover really well.”The week’s workProduction is quite regular. Generally it works out that fresh sausagesis Monday, Tuesday is chorizo, Wednesday is fresh sausages again.Thursday is black pudding, white pudding and chorizo. In betweenthey make bacon, and salami. Oh! And they make haggis too. Thisexcited me as I had made haggis during university holidays. (Working48 weeks in the food industry during uni holidays was a requirementfor my food tech degree. I reckon it would be a good idea if it werecompulsory for all tertiary food students to work in the industry duringholidays to gain experience for when they graduate, but I digress.)I asked about the haggis. “The haggis is packed in a chub or a bung”Phillip explained. I have always been interested in words so … a bung?Phillip scratched his chin, looked at his wife who immediately lookedout the window. “Well, it’s a casing, a natural product, and uh, well,it’s part of your body. You think about it.” I did. Husband and wife nowexchanged quite different glances and I in turn looked out the windowthen changed the subject.I asked about raw materials too. “Oh, we get it in from all over really,venison, beef, pork; no lamb though.”“Why not?“Oh, the original recipes don’t specify lamb and we have kept to themexactly. We buy meat from both islands, all from registered premises.We can’t just go out the back and shoot some deer you know, thosedays have long gone.”They use nearly all natural casings and had some kind words for Dunninghamswho provide them with a lot of their supplies. “They go outof their way to help us, call in on a regular basis and have a wideproduct range.”The Spice roomI love spice rooms and Blackball Salami’s room sent my nose intooverdrive, trying to identify a cacophony of aromatics. Covered bins ofrosemary, cloves, garlic, coriander, fennel and many more spices linedthe long wall and there were bins of other ingredients in front.“We are gluten free, MSG free and use rice flour to disperse the spices.”MarketingPhillip Russ, the man behind BlackballSalamiBlackball makes a premium product and retail outlets stocking theirproduct are scattered throughout the country. You can see them inNew World SI and Fresh Choice outlets, Moore Wilson stores in theWellington region and Farro’s in Auckland. “Foodstuffs South Island isa big customer.”A revamp of their website, www.blackballsalami.co.nz has paid offwith an increase in on line sales. This was part of a comprehensiverebranding exercise which included work on their labels, vehicles,website and GS1 registered bar codes as well.“So the business is successful then”?“Well, we aren’t doing a night shift yet, but we are doing OK. Actually,we don’t want it to get too big because we like to be hands on andkeep it local. People tell us they are the best sausages in the country.”“We make heaps of sausages, not pre-packaged though. We sell themright through the South Island. And we go to the Farmers Market in theweekend in Christchurch too. It’s good to interact with customers. Andwe gave a few sausages away when Pike River happened too.”Of course! The Pike River mine is just a bit north of Blackball. In fact,the memorial to West Coast miners who have died on the job is right inthe middle of the village. It looks like a three metre bicycle wheel andmade from coal train rails. Ceramic plaques bear the miners’ namesaround the circumference. I had to turn it. It was heavy to do so butonce moving, runs silently and for a long time. Looking through thespokes to a brooding West Coast sky that promised more rain, it wasa poignant symbol.18Food New Zealand
Salami microbiologySalami is a fermented meat product and I went andtalked to John Brooks, Professor of Food Microbiologyat AUT University, to learn about that. He said thattraditionally, salami was allowed to ferment naturallybut nowadays starter cultures are used. The particularstrains of the bacteria used are proprietary secretsbut they are strains of Lactobacillus and Micrococcusvariants. The lactobacilli produce lactic acid and theMicrococci reduce nitrate to nitirite. Both of these actionshelp to keep the salami. Fermentation conditionsare variable; anywhere from 15°C to 40°C and for 20 to60 hours. Some processors use heat treatment after thefermentation stage.The combination of slow drying and fermentationreduces the pH of the salami to below 5.2 and promotescoagulation of the meat protein. All this contributes tothe desired flavour, texture and food safety The highfat content in some salamis helps to reduce the wateractivity also.By the way, John writes a very readable food microblog, which is getting 250 hits/day. To check it out, go tohttp://foodsafetywithjaybee.blogspot.comEtymologySalami is the plural of the Italian word ‘salame’. Thesal part, well, that’s fairly obvious and the ‘-ame’ part isan indicator of collective nouns. Salame is therefore allkinds of salted (meats). In modern English ‘salami’ is acured, fermented and air dried meat product.Traveller’s TaleThe Driving ForceIn PneumaticsSERIESKQB2Metal One-touch FittingsNEWS/S Collet & FKM SealsElectroless Nickel Plated Brass• Compact and light(Dimensions: Approx. 30% down - Comparison with KQBL06-01S)• More tube sizes added (ø3.2 (ø1.8”) and ø16 have beenadded)• More configurations varied (17 models 9 models)• Metric size x G thread added• Applicable tube size (4mm - 16mm)• Connection thread: M5 - G1/8, G1/4, G3/8, G1/2www.smc.co.nzSMC Pneumatics (N.Z.) LtdAuckland (Head Office)5 Pacific RiseMt Wellington Auckland 1060T (09) 573 7007F (09) 573 7001E sales@smc.co.nzDecember 2011/January 2012 19
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