20 Things You Didn't Know About... Sausage

The ones that kill, the ones that fly long distances, and the ones made from pig bungs

By Leeaundra Keany
Sep 14, 2011 12:00 AMApr 12, 2023 2:19 PM

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 Sausages, a blend of meat or blood protein, fat, and spices, were the first processed food. In The Odyssey Homer unflatteringly compares Odysseus to a fat sausage.

2  The English word sausagecomes from the Latin salsus, meaning “salted.” Salt is key to a good link because it dissolves the muscle fiber in meat so the fat can float in a chewy protein matrix. Hungry yet?

3  The Roman word for sausage, botulus, is the origin of the word botulism. The sausage production process creates a warm, moist, anaerobic environment ideal for Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium that produces the botulin toxin.

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