Description: Chouriça de Carne de Barroso—Montalegre PGI is a horseshoe-shaped smoked sausage, with a diameter of approximately 3 cm and a length between 25 and 35 cm, made from the meat and fat of pure or cross bred Bísaro pigs seasoned with salt, garlic, chilli pepper and/or red bell pepper. It has a red to brown colour and it is spotted, as the pieces of fat are visible.
Production method: Topside, loin, lean trimmings off the leg, and the meat attached to the spinal vertebrae are cut into small pieces, seasoned with salt, wine and garlic and left to marinate for up to 5 days at a temperature below 10 °C in a room with low humidity, after which pepper powder is added. This mixture is then stuffed into a casing bent into a horseshoe shape. The sausage is smoked over a low fire (mainly from oak wood) for 10 to 15 days. Chouriça de Carne de Barroso-Montalegre PGI is placed on the market as a pre-packed whole sausage.
Distinctive features: The production of Chouriça de Carne de Barroso-Montalegre PGI depends greatly from the region's cold and dry climate, which forces every household to keep a fire burning at all times, thus providing unique conditions for smoking characterised due to a light and gradual smoke supply.
Production area: The geographical area for meat and fat production encompasses the municipalities of Boticas, Chaves and Montalegre (area traditionally known as ‘Barroso’), in the Vila Real district. The geographical area for processing and packing encompasses the municipality of Montalegre.
History: Due to the geographic isolation of the Barroso region, the local diet, constituted mainly of bread, potatoes and pork, became essentially limited to the local production. The countless references to the taxation of pigs and pork products in various municipal registers, including that of Montalegre, demonstrate the antiquity and the importance of these activities in this region. Chouriça de Carne de Barroso—Montalegre PGI is an example of the preservation techniques locally developed and passed down from one generation to the next in order to assure pork meat availability throughout the year.
Product specification (pdf)
Producer group
Associação dos Produtores de Fumeiro da Terra Fria Barrosã
Control and certification body
Kiwa Sativa – Unipessoal, Lda.
Control plan
Control plan (pdf)
Publication in EU official journal
Regulamento (CE) n.º 148/2007 da Comissão de 15.02.2007
Regulamento (CEE) n.º 2081/92 do Conselho de 20.12.2005 - C 323/2
Publication in the Portuguese official journal
Aviso n.º 7854/2001, de 8 de junho