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What is black pudding?
With the term sanguinaccio various recipes of the Italian gastronomic tradition can be indicated.
These are very distinct gastronomic preparations, belonging to two different categories:
- Creamy desserts based on cocoa or chocolate and pork blood;
- Meat sausages and pork blood ( Sus scrofa domesticus ).
Therefore, in the common language, with pudding we mean any recipe that foresees the use of pig blood.
Sweet black pudding
Typical carnival, sweet black pudding is a creamy, spoony dessert made from fresh pork and other ingredients such as dark chocolate or cocoa, lard, grape must, dried fruit - raisins - the rind of orange, oilseeds - nuts or hazelnuts - rum and spices - like cinnamon or vanilla.
Although in different versions, it is produced in many areas of the peninsula such as Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Marche, Umbria - where it is known as "meaccio" - Abruzzo and much of the south. In Campania and Basilicata it enjoys the recognition of Traditional Agri-food Product (PAT) but it also affirms itself among the characteristic preparations of the Calabria region.
The process of sweet black pudding is simple. All the ingredients are boiled together - with a variable percentage of blood - stirring constantly, until the desired consistency is reached - generally spreadable or creamy in any case. Only spices and solid ingredients are added almost at the end of cooking.
Sweet black pudding is generally served together with crostoli - chiacchiere - or savoiardi biscuits. It can be kept in a jar; following an impeccable procedure - which includes sterilization of containers and pasteurization of packaged food - sweet black pudding can become a real preserve. Potted without sterilization and pasteurization, or in any case once opened, the black pudding must be kept exclusively in the refrigerator for a few days. Some prefer to freeze it.
Salty black pudding - bagged
The blood sausage, or rather, the salted puddings, are preserved meats and, more precisely, pork-based sausages. Unlike common sausages and salamis, salted black pudding largely contains offal and blood - which are part of the so-called fifth quarter. It is eaten cooked or raw, depending on the specific type.
In Italy, salted sausage of the sausage type is produced in all the regions that have the pork tradition in their gastronomic tradition. We mainly talk about: Marche, Liguria, Tuscany, Puglia, Basilicata, Piedmont and Campania. Bagged salted black pudding is also widespread in different areas of Emilia Romagna; however, especially in the plains - from the Parma area, passing through the Modena area, up to the Ferrara area, and down the Bolognese area - fresh pork was used above all for the sweet recipe. This is because much of the fifth quarter could be used for specific recipes such as: head cup - ears, nose piece etc. - cotechino - pork rind - salama da sugo - liver, tongue - etc.
Although with different names, foods similar to black pudding are also produced abroad; for example: Germany (blutwurst), France, Spain (morcilla), United Kingdom (black pudding), Portugal (morcela), Sweden (blodpudding), Finland (mustamakkara), Korea (sundae) and Ireland (black pudding).
The salted black pudding of Lombard or Alpine origin - from cooked ingredients - such as marzipan, sanguignino or Valdostan boudin, may also contain potatoes or rice, spices and red turnips. It can also be eaten seasoned or cooked just bagged, and is commonly served with polenta. Ligurian berodo also contains pine nuts, milk and onions. With fennel seeds, the Tuscan black pudding is called biroldo. Calabrian sangiari also contains ricotta and cooked wine. In Puglia, pork intestines are filled with blood, cooked, and cut into slices; they are called sangunazz.
Blood
Blood: fundamental ingredient
Both blood sausage recipes contain fresh pork blood. Today the recipes based on pig blood are very difficult to reproduce since, since 1992, for hygienic and sanitary reasons, the trade of the ingredient was totally blocked.
In the past, fresh pig blood was collected during the killing of the beast, which occurred by cutting the large carotid vessels passing through the neck. Today, however, that the slaughter takes place by means of a gun from animal euthanasia, the blood is collected by draining after his death.
After having collected all the fresh pork blood, it is essential to keep it mixed for at least 10-20 minutes, during which the coagulation takes place. The solid part, condensed due to fibrin and platelets, is eliminated by the liquid ingredient that is now ready to be used.
Nutritional Properties
Nutritional properties of blood
Not being able to generalize the nutritional properties of the various types of blood sausage (given the heterogeneity of the preparations), below we will try to summarize what are the chemical characteristics of the characterizing ingredient, or the blood.
The blood is edible at 100% and represents an ingredient rich in water. Subjected to boiling, it is partially dehydrated but, if coagulated and deprived of solids, it maintains more or less the same proportions as the raw ingredient.
It is not overly caloric. Energy is supplied mainly by the protein content, followed by carbohydrates and lipids in lesser quantities. Peptides are very abundant and have a high biological value. This means that it provides all the essential amino acids in adequate quantities and proportions with respect to the human model. The lipid fraction - composed mainly of triglycerides, which fatty acid composition is unknown - and carbohydrate - glucose - depend above all on the animal's diet. The fibers are absent.
The amount of cholesterol is difficult to estimate. The most common nutritional factors responsible for food intolerance are not present: gluten, lactose and histamine. The quantity of purines is unknown but, in addition to them, the contribution of its catabolites such as, for example, uric acid must be taken into account.
Mineral salts have high bioavailability; the concentrations of potassium, sodium, phosphorus, calcium, iron - of hemoglobin - and magnesium stand out. As far as vitamins are concerned, the contents of antioxidants, ie retinol (vit A), ascorbic acid (vit C) and alpha tocopherol (vit E) are appreciable. There are also small concentrations of hemorrhagic (vit K), calciferol (vit D) and various coenzymatic factors of group B (vit B1, vit B2, vit PP, vit B5, vit B6, vit H, folate and vit B12) .
Diet
Blood in the diet
The blood has no major dietary contraindications. In itself it is not very energetic, even if the recipes that contain it are usually high calorie, therefore unsuitable for the weight loss diet for overweight and obesity.
Taken individually, it should not have contraindications for metabolic pathologies of: hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus and primary arterial hypertension. Instead it is contraindicated, for safety reasons, in hyperuricemia or gout. Once again, taking into account blood-based recipes, it is advisable to avoid them in the presence of replacement diseases.
The excellent quantity and quality of protein makes it suitable for those with a greater need for essential amino acids - competitive athletes, pregnant, debilitated or malnourished, in old age etc.
Rich in vitamins and minerals, blood can be useful in the indiscriminate increase of all these essential nutrients for humans. It should however be remembered that it is a cooked food, therefore depleted of thermolabile molecules - for example vit C, folate etc.
It has no contraindications for the diet against celiac disease, lactose intolerance and histamine. Note : the blood sausage recipes, on the other hand, should be avoided in those suffering from adverse reactions to histamine.
It is obviously denied by vegetarian, vegan, Jewish and Muslim philosophies.
