Are you one of the many people who love eating sausages? There are many different types of sausages out there, but no matter what, it’s going to be great to have some that you can cook at your next barbecue.
Some people make their own sausages, but others will buy high-quality sausages from the market. They’re going to be stored in sausage casings.
Sausage casings are sometimes referred to as “sausage skin.” A sausage casing is essentially just the material that keeps the sausage filling enclosed.
Some natural casings are made from intestines or animal skin. Artificial casings are usually made using collagen and cellulose.
These sausage casings can’t just be kept out if you want them to stay good. You’re going to need to understand how to store them.
Read on to learn the best way to store sausage casings. If you’re a sausage maker, then this is going to be crucial information.
Natural Sausage Casings Will Go Bad
If you thought that natural sausage casings will stay good indefinitely, then that was simply incorrect. These casings are going to degrade over time, and this means that you need to take action to protect them.
Generally, sausage casings will go bad when you’re not storing them at the proper temperature. It’s not going to be good to leave these casings out in the heat.
If your sausage casings smell bad, then that might not necessarily mean that they’ve gone bad. Some sausage casings are just naturally pungent.
It might be necessary to air them out so that they won’t smell quite so much. Rinsing them is also highly recommended.
Once you’ve done this, you’re going to need to learn how to store them properly. It isn’t going to be good to leave the casings out in a room-temperature setting.
Sausage Casings Need to Be Refrigerated
To get the most out of the sausage casings, you’re going to need to refrigerate them. If you made casings recently, then you might have many extra casings left that you didn’t use.
These can be saved and used the next time you decide to make sausages. However, you’re going to need to store them properly or they will never stay good long enough.
Many new sausage makers make the mistake of assuming that the casings should be frozen. This is actually bad for them, and it’s not going to allow them to be used the next time you need them.
It’s also not appropriate to store the casings at room temperature. They will wind up going bad fairly quickly if you just leave them out at room temperature instead of storing them properly.
The right thing to do is put the sausage casing in the refrigerator. Storing the casings properly in the fridge can make them last for up to two years.
This is a very long time, and you might be surprised to hear that they can stay good this long. They won’t last nearly as long if you freeze them or if you leave them out at room temperature.
In fact, freezing the casings might make them go bad faster than normal. This is usually not the case since freezing most things will allow you to keep them fresh for longer periods of time.
It’s one of the reasons why so many new sausage makers make this mistake. They think they’re doing the right thing when they’re not.
Freezing sausage casings will damage them. They just aren’t capable of surviving in such low temperatures.
Similarly, casings that are stored at temperatures above 50 degrees Fahrenheit won’t last long. This means that a refrigerator that allows you to store casings in colder temperatures that aren’t quite freezing will be best.
Storage Tips
Aside from putting the sausage casings in the fridge, you’ll be able to help them to last longer by storing them in salt. When you store the casings in salt, it’ll make them last for an even longer period of time.
Using salt as a preservation method is something that humans have been doing for many centuries. It works well to help your sausage casings survive until you need to use them again.
When you go to use the casings again, you’ll just need to wash the salt off. It shouldn’t take too long to do this, and you’ll surely have an easy time getting things ready.
It should be noted that you don’t want to use standard table salt to store the casings. It’d be better to use something such as kosher salt or non-iodized salt.
This helps you to avoid issues with adding a metallic taste to the fillings. There’s another option besides using salt if you’d like to be even safer, though.
Some sausage makers choose to store their casings in vacuum-sealed bags or packages. These are airtight bags that help to keep the casings safe while they’re in the fridge.
This means that salt isn’t a necessity so long as you have vacuum-sealed bags that you can utilize. Just decide which route you want to take and everything will turn out just fine.
Final Thoughts
You now know exactly how to go about storing sausage casings to get the best results. It isn’t that hard to store sausage casings overall, but many people who are new to making sausages make mistakes due to not having the right knowledge.
Avoid storing the casings at room temperature. You’re not supposed to freeze them either since they can get damaged by very low temperatures.
You want to store them in the refrigerator to make them last for up to two years. If you want to ensure that they last as long as they can, then using salt is also recommended.
The salt washes right off when you need to use the casings. If you don’t want to do this, then you can store the casings in vacuum-sealed bags instead.
Either way, you’re going to have a good experience when storing sausage casings. Now that you know what you’re doing, it’s far less likely that you’ll make a mistake that will cause the casings to go bad prematurely.
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
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