Sobrasada: an indelicate delicacy

1
The precise origin of sobrasada is uncertain, although historians tell us that this method of preserving meat was first practiced in the middle-ages and originates in the Middle East.

2
In Ibiza and the rest of the Balearics, this practice of stuffing meat into animal guts to preserve it began during the Roman Empire, but was abandoned with the arrival of Muslim presence on the islands.

3
With the domination of Western Christian culture in 1235, the production of sobrasada sobrasada was resurrected. The matanzas –slaughters– of the pigs were traditionally carried out in winter and the whole community took part.

4
The actual word sobrasada comes from the Italian word sorpressa, which mean pressed, in reference to how the meat is pressed into sausage.

5
It is thought that the first historical reference to sobrasada is in a document from 1403 in which King Martín l of Aragon requested meat and sobrasadas from the butler of King Martin I of Sicily.

6
From the 16th Century, the development of sobrasada as a way of preserving food really took off, but it wasn’t until the 18th Century that paprika was incorporated, giving sobrasada its distinctive red colour.

7
Traditionally, women prepared the intestines and the blending of the meat mixture with herbs and spices, and while men stuffed the guts, the women separated them into smaller pieces.

8
Nowadays, sobrasada is made by seasoning chopped pork from the local black pig with paprika before it is hung to cure in the open air, usually for one to eight months. We think is best spread on toast.