Due to high temperatures, kulen and sausages from small producers will be in short supply this year.
Smokehouses are full of kulen, bacon and sausages, but for many small producers from Slavonia, the prospects are bleak. High temperatures have destroyed meat delicacies and the producers fear that this year’s quantities will be halved compared to last year, which means that prices will skyrocket, reports Lokalni.hr on January 10, 2018.
One cooperative in Osijek has started collecting samples of kulen and sausages brought by their friends and neighbours. They are trying to save what they can. “In order to be ready, small kulen needs at least a month to cure, but they’ve cured after only ten days. There is no other solution than to eat them as soon as possible,” explains Vladimir Flatscher from the cooperative.
One batch of his kulen was made in early December when Slavonia was hit with the first seven days of high temperatures. “It has cured well, and there is no soot, but due to the high temperature the meat has retreated towards the skin, and the middle is hollow. It must be eaten within a month, or it get mouldy, and it will not be edible,” he explained.
On the other hand, sausages have fared better, because they are smaller in diameter, unlike large kulen which was hit the worst. “Those who are preparing kulen without chambers can throw them away, since there will be no freezing days, with temperatures up to -10 degrees, before Easter,” said Flatscher.
Cured meat delicacies do not do well in temperatures higher than eight degrees, but on Tuesday in the Osijek region, temperatures reached 12 degrees, which is almost 30 degrees more than on the same date last year. The changes in climate are the reason why his cooperative no longer sells cured meat products. They were hoping to receive European money for a curing facility, but that has not yet happened.
On the other hand, Vladimir Škrobo, the owner of Baranjska Kuća (Baranja House) restaurant in Karanac, invested funds in a fridge and a curing facility. “We use traditional recipes, local pork and pepper, but we have had to adapt and invest about 50,000 kuna in the plant. The climate has changed, that has created problems for us for years,” said Škrobo.
He cures about a thousand kilos of meat per year, mostly bacon and small kulen. “The quantities are not large, but we’re investing for the future,” he concluded.
Translated from Lokalni.hr.
