What is that
What is Bologna mortadella?
Mortadella from Bologna is an Italian salami, typical of the capital of Emilia, which enjoys IGP recognition (Protected Geographical Indication).
Whole looks like a kind of huge pork sausage. Inside it is pink, dotted with white (fat), black (pepper) and sometimes green (pistachios).
Mortadella from Bologna belongs to the group of preserved meats, more precisely of cooked and ready-to-slice sausages. From the nutritional point of view, as a significant source of essential amino acids, mineral salts and specific vitamins, it is included in the fundamental group of foods; remember that it is also rich in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium.
In the kitchen it can be eaten alone, in cubes, or thinly sliced and accompanied with bread. It is part of many typical recipes of Emilia Romagna.
Nutritional Properties
Nutritional characteristics of mortadella from Bologna
Mortadella from Bologna belongs to the first fundamental group of foods (source of proteins with high biological value, vitamins and mineral salts of meat). It is a rather caloric food; energy is supplied mainly by lipids, followed by proteins and finally by a few carbohydrates.
Fatty acids are predominantly unsaturated (8% saturated of total calories), peptides with high biological value (they contain all the essential amino acids in the right proportions) and simple carbohydrates (in particular lactose, IF one of the ingredients is milk flour) .
Bologna mortadella does not contain fibers (except for the addition of pistachios), while cholesterol is quite significant. Some types of mortadella may contain traces of gluten.
Among the minerals, significant concentrations of sodium and iron are noted; as regards vitamins, the levels of water-soluble B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin) and PP (niacin) are discrete.
Mortadella from Bologna is a food that does not lend itself to the customary feeding of the overweight subject and / or affected by metabolic pathologies, especially primary sodium sensitive hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and metabolic syndrome in general. If it contains lactose and gluten, it must also be excluded from the nutritional schemes of milk sugar and celiac disease intolerant. It should also be avoided in the vegetarian, vegan, kosher, Muslim and Hindu diet.
Contemporary mortadella almost always contains synthetic aromas, preservatives and antioxidants; currently the companies are correcting the recipes respecting the public sensibility for the use of additives.
The average portion of mortadella from Bologna is 50 grams (about 310-320 kcal).
Nutritional values
| Edible part | 100% | |
| water | 52.3 g | |
| Protein | 14.7 g | |
| Lipids TOT | 28.1 g | |
| Saturated fatty acids | 9.25 g | |
| Monounsaturated fatty acids | 12.8 g | |
| Polyunsaturated fatty acids | 3.94 g | |
| Cholesterol | 70.0 mg | |
| TOT Carbohydrates | 1.5 g | |
| Glycogen | 0.0 g | |
| Soluble sugars | 1.5 g | |
| Dietary fiber | 0.0 g | |
| Power | 317.0 kcal | |
| Sodium | 506.0 mg | |
| Potassium | 130.0 mg | |
| Iron | 1.4 mg | |
| Football | 9.0 mg | |
| Phosphorus | 180.0 mg | |
| Magnesium | 0.8 mg | |
| Zinc | - mg | |
| Copper | - mg | |
| Selenium | 2.2 µg | |
| Thiamine | 0.19 mg | |
| Riboflavin | 0.26 mg | |
| Niacin | 3.59 mg | |
| Vitamin A | 0.0 µg | |
| C vitamin | tr | |
| Vitamin E | - mg | |
IGT recognition
Mortadella di Bologna IGT
In 1998, Bologna mortadella was recognized by the European Union as a food worthy of Typical Geographical Indication.
The production area of Bologna IGT mortadella is quite vast; includes all of Emilia Romagna and neighboring regions such as: Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Marche and Tuscany; also Lazio and Trentino Alto Adige are also included.
No other Italian or foreign mortadella can make use of the name "Bologna", even if abroad they are marketed of cured meats called only Bologna (without the nickname of mortadella). Nevertheless, as much as 10% of Bologna's national mortadella production is exported.
Recipes and Uses
Uses of mortadella from Bologna
In gastronomy, the mortadella from Bologna is mainly used as a fresh cut thinly sliced, with bread (typically rosette) or breadsticks, tigelle and piadina; it can also be eaten in cubes.
Among the most famous applications we remember the filling of tortellini, a stuffed pasta typical of Bologna, famous all over the world.
Oenological pairing with Bologna mortadella
Mortadella is brilliantly combined with white, rosé and light red wines such as: Colli Bolognesi Sauvignon, Franciacorta, Oltrepò Pavese Riesling and Trentino Lagrein Kretzer.
Description
Description of the mortadella from Bologna
Mortadella from Bologna can have very different sizes, ranging from over a quintal to less than one kilogram. It has a cylindrical and elongated shape. The external coating (gut), usually made of cellulose or collagen, is pale red and is tied with food twine (for an especially aesthetic reason).
When cut, the mortadella from Bologna is rosy, with evident lard and black peppercorns; a particular type of mortadella also contains pistachios.
It releases an absolutely inimitable scent, with hints of all the spices used in the seasoning. The flavor is intense, characteristic and at the same time delicate.
Etymology
Etymology of the name mortadella of Bologna
In ancient times, a product similar to mortadella was produced by finely chopping pork by means of a large mortar; in fact it is assumed that the term mortadella comes from "mortarium" (Latin name of mortar) or "murtatum" (meat worked with amortaio). Two Roman funerary stelae preserved in the archaeological museum of Bologna show these instruments.
Alternatively, this noun could derive from the term used to indicate an ancient Roman sausage flavored with myrtle berries instead of pepper: the "farcimen mirtatum" (myrtle sausage)
History
Brief history of Bologna mortadella
The ancestor of contemporary mortadella dates back to the first century, when it appeared in the Roman territory between Lazio and Emilia Romagna; it is likely to hypothesize that the Etruscan and Gallic populations contributed to the processing of this food, colonizing these territories for many centuries (for example in Kainua, an Etruscan city that once stood on the Pian di Misano).
Since then, the finds do not offer any trace until the Middle Ages, when it definitely became one of the symbolic foods of the city of Bologna.
The "Corporation of the Salaroli" in 1376 had a mortar with pestle as its emblem; moreover, in some documents reference is made to a certain sausage having all the characteristics of mortadella (even if the type of meat used is not always specified). Three centuries later the reputation of the Bologna mortadella exploded, as the dozens of bibliographical traces show. In 1644 the first recipe was documented by Vincenza Tanara in "the economy of the citizen in the villa". Twenty years later, Cardinal Girolamo Farnese imposed the production of Bologna mortadella exclusively with pork.
It is therefore obvious that mortadella, as we know it today, was born in the capital of the Emilia Romagna region. Elsewhere (outside the territories of the PGI) it is reproduced in a fairly faithful manner to the original or in its own style, but with a different name. That of Prato is a Tuscan specialty, it is flavored with garlic and colored with alchermes. The typical mortadella from Amatrice, from Lazio, is smoked.
