Well, we finally received a response from the USDA on our last round of label applications. We were partially successful this time. Labels for uncured ham and bacon, ground pork, and sage-brined pork chops were approved. Labels for essentially all our sausages from this round were not. Sigh. There were a series of misunderstandings (my error), as well as errors on the part of the USDA label team. Once again, I had an enjoyable conversation with the kind USDA label guy in Washington, DC, and we parted on good terms. I have some work to do to get the labels resubmitted.
Winter has descended with a vengeance, bringing lots of snow and cold temperatures. This morning when I awoke it was 0.6 degrees (OK, I'll round it up to 1). It never got above about 7 degrees today, and tomorrow is supposed to be similarly cold. It's a struggle in such temperatures to keep the water to the animals flowing. We had a freeze-up in the rabbitry that took awhile to clear. Fortunately, years ago we installed heated, automatic waterers for the pigs. We still water the sheep by hand, though. I realize it's not -30 degrees (you folks from North Dakotan and Montana are REAL farmers), but it's still cold for our part of Colorado.
We made about 150 lbs of sausage yesterday. We made a variety of recipes, to provide friends and some potential customers with samples. We tried a few newly developed recipes, including a fresh sausage from the Alsatian region of France, and a Mexican chaurice. Both are great, but I'll need to tinker a bit more with the recipes. We also made our standbys: medium and mild Italian, breakfast, and what started out as a bratwurst, but has since been turned into a weisswurst. Brat or weiss, it's great.
We will have a session next week to make a batch of our uncured hams, just in time for Christmas. This ham is delicious. It's from our Berkshire pigs, and we process it without adding artificial nitrites or nitrates. It comes out juicy, flavorful, and looks, cooks, and tastes like regular ham. I know what we'll have on the table for Christmas!
