Sopressa isn’t just any salume. It’s unique to the Veneto and Treviso province.
We just had to share this post about sopressa from the Facebook of the Treviso province delegation to FIVI, the Federazione Italiana Vignaioli Indipendenti or Italian Federation of Independent Grape Growers.
“In Treviso province, when we cut into a sopressa, it doesn’t just meaning slicing a salume. It is a ritual that reflects sharing, pride, and local tradition. You can talk about wine all you want but when the moment to slice the sopressa arrives, something bigger happens. It represents the consecration of a relationship. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow: Sopressa is terroir.”
(Translation from the Italian by our blogmaster.)
It’s hard to explain what an important role that this salume plays in Prosecco tradition. Not only is it a fantastic pairing for Prosecco (especially Prosecco col fondo) but it’s also a form of conviviality and friendship that transcends the mere transactional. To have a Prosecco producer share her or his sopressa with you denotes the beginning, consolidation, or reaffirmation of a true and genuine friendship.
One of the things that sets this salume apart from other salumi is that in the Veneto, they use nearly all parts of the pig for this salume. They even use the thigh, which is usually reserved for prosciutto in other parts of Italy. The unique combination of the thigh meat with other parts of the animal give sopressa a distinctive and particularly delicate flavor and texture.
And of course, terroir plays a fundamental role in making this cured meat. Part of what gives it its unique flavor and texture is that it is aged during the Veneto winter with its unique confluence of humidity and temperature etc. You could reproduce the technique for making sopressa anywhere. But unless it’s made with pigs raised in the Veneto and then aged in the Veneto, it won’t have that distinctive character that you only get there.
