The Bré del Gallo farm is situated in a small village in the heart of the Po river valley around Parma (Italy).
Parma and its territory are the capital of slow food. In this special geographical area, we produce PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) Culatello di Zibello, salami, cured pork shoulder and bacon in the same ancient cellars where also local wines like Malvasia and Fortana are produced.
Bré del Gallo is a member of the Consorzio del Culatello di Zibello.
Our traditional work method and the related knowhow have been passed on by generations of master artisans producing high-quality cured pork meats.
Culatello di Zibello (PDO) – Slow Food Presidium
Most important features of the Culatello di Zibello (from the Consortium statute): Pork meats are selected only from local farms. Swine is fed grains and natural feed only. In order to make a Culatello, master butchers use the largest muscle from the rear leg of a pig. It’ a natural product without additives and preservatives. Meats are cured in winter only, from September to March; Culatello is aged minimum 12 months. We use typical cellars, as in the past it was done, which are ideal for the maturation of the Culatello di Zibello.
The philosophy of Bré del Gallo has been identified by the Slow Food Association, marking Bré del Gallo as a real producer of the Culatello di Zibello and Spalla Cruda Presidia.
Zibello Culatello is one of Italy’s noblest cured meats, due to its long and delicate processing and the use of one of the most prized cuts of pork: the boned muscular part of the hind legs. The Presidium brings together a handful of producers who are still making Culatello using strictly traditional methods, aging it for at least 18 months without refrigeration in natural environments like ancient cellars in its typical zone along the Po River near Parma.
Production area: Polesine, Busseto, Zibello, Soragna, Roccabianca, San Secondo Parmense, Sissa and Colorno Municipalities, Parma Province
Seasonality: the best time for production is from November to January; the Presidium protocol requires a minimum aging period of 18 months.
In other regions, pork shoulder is ground up to make salami and cotechino. But around Parma, it is used whole, with or without the bone, to make a very distinguished cured meat.
Preparing spalla cruda (“raw shoulder”) with the bone in and aging it for months requires expert charcuterie skills, especially because tradition requires the use of large shoulders, weighing at least three or four kilos. When properly prepared, it is extraordinary: sweet and fragrant, with notes of chestnuts and good-quality meat, a barely perceptible hint of pepper and a whiff of oxidation.
Production area: Polesine, Busseto, Zibello, Soragna, Roccabianca, San Secondo Parmense, Sissa and Colorno Municipalities, Parma Province
Seasonality: Only produced during the colder months, from November to February, the deboned version ages for at least 10 months and the bone-in version for at least 14 months.
