(shahr-koo-tuh-ree) has been practiced since the fifteenth century, however in recent years interest in this artisanal specialty has grown. Pâtés, cured meats, terrines, and gourmet sausages such as salumis and prosciuttos are popping up on menus at upscale restaurants as well as cocktail and dinner parties. Is your store the place consumers think of when they are planning their parties? When they want to purchase their selection of charcuterie? Or are you letting them pass up your store’s deli department and head to the specialty shop down the street? As I’ve visited stores and spoken with some deli managers, I realize that this art form is simply a mystery to them. I’m asking you to come along with me as I take you through a brief history of this fast-growing art form as well as give you some insights into how your KeHE Fresh team can be a solution for your Fresh, artisanal needs. THe DiViNe PiG The culinary specialty of charcuterie was originally used to refer to the creation of pork products such as salami, sausages, and prosciutto – is true food craftsmanship, the art of turning preserved food into items of beauty and taste. Today the term encompasses a vast range of preparations, most of which involve salting, cooking, smoking, and drying. And for anyone who has lived in or visited Italy is familiar with the pleasures of its varied and prized selections of salumis; everything from Prosciutto to Mortadella to Speck to Pancetta, and the like. Most scholars believe pigs were first domesticated in China and the Near East, and then spread to Europe, where they roamed freely all over Italy as early as 1000 BC. In the first century BC, the Roman scholar Varro wrote instructions on how to feed and care for pigs to ensure they would yield the tastiest meat. Rome’s pork markets were located near the city’s salt markets, and locals quickly learned how to salt and preserve the meat safely. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the pig became the most important source of dietary meat in Europe. Each fall, farmers slaughtered their animals, cooked and ate a small portion of the fresh meat, and then preserved and stored the balance for eating during the rest of the year. Columbus introduced pigs to the New World on his second voyage in 1493, and they were soon being bred throughout the Caribbean and Latin America…and then to The New World. As the American pioneers traveled west, their pigs went with them, and by the mid-1800s, pork was a significant industry in Cincinnati and in Chicago; and the Midwest was well on its way to becoming the center of the US pork industry. Today, the primary hog breeds in the US are Berkshire, Duroc, Chester White, Poland China, Hampshire, Yorkshire, Spotted, and Landrace. Who knew there were so many breeds? To find out even more information, be sure to log on to the KeHe Fresh Products website at www.fresh.kehe.com To find out more about the Charcuterie program here at KeHe please contact your KeHe Sales Representative or you can email me directly at heather.opolony@kehe.com MORe THAN BACON Now that I’ve shared how the pig came to be in the diets of key parts of the world, let’s focus on the here and now. As I mentioned earlier, in the last couple of years, the art of charcuterie has grown in the US. And if you’re not offering it to your customers, you may be sending them down the road to your competition. No worries, here at KeHE we’ve created a solution for you. We now offer a complete charcuterie program that includes imported and domestically made product; the offerings are prepackaged as well as bulk; and we offer all the top-selling cuts and brands. If you’re at the KeHE Summer Selling and Product Innovations Show, be sure to stop into the Fresh Products Pavilion to get a first-hand look, in the meantime, here’s a “primer” that gives some insights into the different cuts that are available through the KeHE Fresh Products program. May-July 2014 OnTREnD 55