Homemade Sausage Making

Ok made a note BobK
Lou, it's funny I thought the same things you were. I've been to this store a few times, but never bothered to ask, but now I will, and the jar with oil is how I learned to store my dried cured meats, we used a very large crock pot. Now a days I vac seal.

Looking at it further, I took one out and scraped it with a knife. The residule that came off on the knife is more of a grease, yet had the tackiness of soft wax.

If you google "Calabria Pork Store Images" you will get a large number of photos of products that have mould cover. https://www.google.ca/search?q=calabria ... FM:However, the mould is all white and the amount is not excessive. This suggests to me that they control and manage the mould growth on their products. I could not see any pics of their curing rooms, only the public areas, so it is also very probable that much of the mould is cleaned off before being transferred to where the customers can see the products and when it's sold. Many people have an aversion or fear of mould of any kind, so it's better for business. If you take a mould covered salami that is not overly dry and brush it off, there will be on the surface a type of sticky waxy film which is caused by the yeast Debaryomyces Hanseii. Using starter cultures with an abundance of yeast strains might produce the effect that Lou is referring to. I doubt that they would apply any special coatings after curing, but you never know. I searched in my salami technology books whether any such practices exist and could not find anything. However, bees wax was applied in some parts of Italy to slow drying and there has been some research into it. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jfq/2017/8089135/

Anyway, this an interesting topic to pursue and those of you who can visit the store should try and find out. Would be great to get a tour of the sausage kitchen and drying chambers.