Capocollo
Capocollo, which has in Calabria also a PDO version, is a cold cut made with loin or pork shoulder. The cut, weighting 3 or 4 kilos, must be surrounded by a stratum of fat maintaining it soft during the maturation process. After being deboned, the meat is dry salted on alternate days for one week, and then dampened with wine (for Capocollo with PDO label, vinegar is used), massaged, and pressed. Ground red pepper and aromatic herms (often wild fennel) are added. Then it is wrapped up in the pork diaphragm, it is squeezed up with string and canes, and the bowels are pierced in order to avoid the formation of air bubbles. After some smoking days, it gets dried and matures in well-ventilated places, with a constant temperature and humidity. When it is cut, the product has a natural rosy color with little fat streaks. Its delicate taste evolves with maturation.
