History

The history of Chinese sausages goes back a thousand years. Much like the Christmas ham or the Thanksgiving turkey, Chinese sausages are a staple food for many Chinese holidays including the Lunar New Year. Besides the dining table, the sausages are a popular choice as gifts and for worship – gifts the gods and ancestors.

The Chinese character “Lop” signifies the unique preparation of meat where it is marinated with salt and soy sauce and then hung and blown dry. Traditionally, the twelfth month of the Lunar Calendar is known as “Lop Month” when the cold and dry climate makes it the perfect time of the year to “lop” the meat. This unique method of preparing the meat, therefore, produces the unique taste of dried meat.

In Southern China, however, because the climate tends to be warmer and wetter, blow-drying is impossible. Instead, sausages are sun-dried, forgoing the unique and superior blown-dried taste. Moreover, the added complications of unachievable climate-control, dusts and flies, preparation and the finished products tend to be lacking.

Still, the Southern Chinese – Guangdong – style of preparing the sausages is a well-known one. The Southern Chinese marinated the sausages with sugar, salt, soy sauce and wine, giving the finished sausages a sweeter taste and a lighter, fresher color. Today, Orchard Sausages follows this age-old method of Southern China. But instead of hanging the sausages out in the sun to dry (and subsequently for flies to feast on), we use special sealed ovens where wind is blown from within to dry the sausages to maintain the clean environment. From the first point of preparing the ingredients to packaging the finished product, Orchard Sausages follow USDA guidelines. And with our style of packaging where the sausages are conveniently wrapped individually, the continued preservation of the meat allows for a sustained enjoyment of the Chinese sausages.

中國人製作臘味的歷史已有两千多年之久，臘味在華人社群深受歡迎。每逢端午、中秋、冬至等傳統節日，人們總需要臘味作為重要食材之一，或作祭祀之用。臘味更是中國人过年必備的年貨，親友間相互餽贈，增進情誼。 「臘」是一种肉類食物的處理方法，指把肉類以鹽或醬醃漬後再風乾。農曆十二月称为「臘月」，這時天氣寒冷且乾燥，肉類不易變質且蚊蠅不多，適合醃製風干各式肉類，風乾後的肉類，與鮮肉有截然不同的風味，「臘味」因以為名。 由於廣東、香港等地潮濕温暖，缺乏風乾的天然條件，因此也有以晒乾的方法製作臘味。然而，在乾燥性气候下風乾的臘味，風味遠比在潮湿天气下晒製的為佳。但由于戶外乾製容易招來蠅虫和灰塵，衛生條件很难保証，且受天氣季節所限。 廣式臘味是各種臘味製作方法中，比較著名的流派之一，口味偏甜，主要配料包括糖、盐、酱油、酒等。其中臘腸、臘肉、臘鴨較常见。臘腸製作方法為將瘦豬肉和肥肉分別切粒腌製，然后塞入腸衣内風乾。长度約15 - 18cm，顏色比較鲜豔。臘肉則挑選層肥層瘦的豬腩肉(俗稱五花肉)，把肋骨逐條去掉，再切成寛2-3cm條狀，醃製后風乾。 奇有臘味公司基於傳統的製作方式，使用封閉式風焙室，重建干燥的自然環境，以實現「臘」的效果。從配料、醃製到包裝，整個製作過程都是在美國農業部衛生官員監管下完成，衛生健康得到充分保證。奇有臘味公司還使用獨立真空包裝，使產品容易保存，不易變質。用多少，開多少。既衛生，又方便，更保質。