engleski

Maintaining the Quality of Homemade Kulen (Dry Croatian Sausage) During a Three-Year Period

The objective of this research was maintenance of the quality parameters of homemade kulen during a three-year period. Homemade kulen is a dry fermented sausage with specific sensorial characteristic (smell and taste) which originates from the use of the high quality pig meat, specific spices, smoking (use of open fire) and long ripening time (at least four months). The production of this indigenous dry sausage take place on small farms and it is conditioned by the climatic conditions. Namely, to produce a good quality kulen it is necessary to start the production during winter months, when the slaughter and production take place. After the smoking, fermentation and drying, the ripening takes place. The physical-chemical parameters (pH, aw, moisture content, fat content, protein content and collagen content) of 25 samples of homemade kulen were determined each year. The current Croatian legislative prescribes only the moisture content (40%) and protein content (22%) for this kind of dry sausage. The results of this study showed variation in investigated parameters between the samples and between the production year. Variations can be contributed to different recipes used by producers, different climatic conditions and to different production technologies (smoking with different wood, ripening time, pig meat quality, etc.).

homemade kulen ; traditional production ; quality maintenance ; physical-chemical parameters

Part of the Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems book series (LNNS,volume 369)