Any reason not to ferment snack sticks?

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donr

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Sep 3, 2011
393
29
Akron, Ohio
I'm going to get some Bactoferm F-LC to ferment some summer sausage.  I'm going to be making some snack sticks as well.  Any reason not to ferment some of the sticks to compare to the non-fermented?  Just to try something a little different?

Thanks

Don
 
This is totally a guess..... 

Because of the small diameter of the stick, it will dehydrate too fast...  before the cure #2 and the culture have an opportunity to work properly...  Fermenting takes a lot of time for the necessary bacteria to grow and acidify the meat...  usually at least 3 weeks...   If the moisture content drops below the required range, all fermentation will stop and the bacteria will die.....
 
I now get what you're saying about curing. I was going by this summer sausage recipe.
Marianski- The art of making fermented sausage.
Summer Sausage
cure #1
F-LC culture
mix all ingriedients & stuff
Ferment at 86 deg. F/90-85% RH for 24 hours.
Then start smoking under certain conditioning.
 
My mistake.....  When I think of fermented sausage, I think of a product that is eaten uncooked and can hang in the cellar for years without refrigeration... 

I read up on that SS recipe in my Marianski book...   I now see I misunderstood the terminology he uses...   Cooking SS to 150 ish or whatever and smoking it, doesn't fit into what I think of, when thinking "fermented SS"...   Now the SS has to be refrigerated to keep it from spoiling...

Stayhot has a great point...  If you want the "tang", ECA is a great product...   just don't run it through the grinder...

Anyway, enough of my ignorance...  Go for it...    Do the snack sticks too....  It will be interesting, the final flavors and how it all comes together..

Dave, sometimes really stupid Dave.....
 
Not to worry Dave.  I too typically think of fermented sausage as a full dried product.  Reading the Marianski book I discovered the term Semi-Dry.

I'm planning on making 2 batches of each, (1) with Bacto-Ferm, (1) without.  Maybe I'll try some ECA as well.  

Will post results when it happens.

Don
 
 
Not to worry Dave.  I too typically think of fermented sausage as a full dried product.  Reading the Marianski book I discovered the term Semi-Dry.

I'm planning on making 2 batches of each, (1) with Bacto-Ferm, (1) without.  Maybe I'll try some ECA as well.  

Will post results when it happens.

Don
Your probably done with this project so this may be to late.....I made some sticks out of Marianski's Lebanon Bologna recipe and they turned out great.  I used them as testers for the drying/curing bologna.  Next time I may do half the recipe in sticks.  
 
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