How long should a natural casing last.
Long story but it has been a year since I have made some sausage.
My casings were vac-packed in non-iodized salt and kept in the fridge for that year.
Also beside them were my collagen casings still in their original plastic heat sealed package.
What says the sausage masters?
Am I ok to use or should I replenish before going forward?
Thanks, Steven
If packed right and which it seems you did they will be good for years, Viper said he used ones I think twenty years old or something like that. Packed in salt they should be good.
They should be good. I have some that are over a year old that I am using and they are fine.
I had some hog casings left over from a sausage project, and I poured a super-saturated salt solution into the bag with the leftover casings, added some extra salt, and put them in the freezer. The bag has stayed slushy, and hasn't frozen solid. Will this storage technique damage the casings? What is the recommended storage technique for natural casings?
As long as they are salted they will last indefinitely. Even if you forget to refrigerate them for a while they may give off a strong odor but they are still good; just put them back in the refrigerator, and the odor will subside.
pmmpete
The recommended storage is to heavily salt them with kosher or an other type of purified salt; such as pickling salt, and keep them refrigerated. Freezing casing will weaken the membrane, and they are prone to splitting. Even though the salt solution is slushy, the salt has dropped the freezing point of water, so the salt solution is the same temperature as the freezer temperature. The freezing point of meat is 28°F, so I would think it would be the same for casing. But the salt should also lower the freezing point of the casings. I'm not sure but I think they would be alright, as long as the casings remain pliable.
Thanks everyone....
Looks like I have clearance to attempt the NEPAS Andouille. ;D
I believe they were from late 70's. Couldn't tell any difference. LOL