German Sausages

Sausages, also known as Wurst.

Germany is known for their great variety of sausages. There are up to 1,500 different kinds of sausages as each region has their own specialty sausages. The sausages can be divided into different categories for easy identification.

Cooked Sausage (Kochwurst)

This category of 350 types of different sausages includes the liver sausages – Leberwurst and blood sausages - Blutwurst. These sausages are very popular in Germany as they contain natural animal juices. Despite it being popular nowadays, the sausages were only eaten on special occasions in the past. Since the sausages made from boiled meat and other raw parts of the animal, it has to be cooked before consumption to prevent food poisoning.

Fresh Sausage (Rohwurst) – the most popular sausage

Fresh sausages are the most popular sausage in Germany, and there are 600 differing varieties. In order to consume the sausages in their strong distinctive flavours, the sausages are prepared by hanging in airy, cool rooms. Fresh sausages contain raw meat of the lean beef or pork, bacon, salt and spices. There are two ways to serve fresh sausages. First is to serve it in slices, and the other is to serve it as sausage spreads. The sausage spreads usually contains more fats, as fats acts as lubricant that make spreading easy.

Fresh sausages for slicing

Salami

Mettwurst – a type of pork sausage

This is how fresh sausages are prepared

Blood Sausages

Do not be disturbed, but yes, blood sausages contains tongue, heart, bacon and fresh animal blood. It contains offal as well. The dark colored sausages are usually flavored with herbs and spices such as cloves, marjoram, cinnamon and thyme.

Some of the examples of Blood Sausages:

Zungenwurst

Grützwurst

Other than all these sausages, there are sausages that are meant to compliment other food or drinks, such as:

Fleischwurst

Served to add flavour to pastas, soups and salads

Bierwurst or Beer sausage

This sausage best compliments beer

Bibliography:

Germanfoods.org. (n.d.). Guide to German Sausages & Meat Products. Retrieved 8 December, 2010, from Germanfoods.org: http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/facts/guidetosausages.cfm