The products of the pig slaughter in Menorca

Like many ancient societies, the pig slaughter in Menorca was not only a family celebration, but also an act of gathering around an animal that, when sacrificed, would provide them with sustenance for several months, through its sausages, its salted meats and preserves in oil.

With the evolution of time, the slaughter or “porquetjades” has become a festive ritual in which only sausages are made to supply the house, including sobrasadas, carn-i-xulla (salchichón), cuixot or camot (some people also call it camaiot, but it has nothing to do with the Majorcan camaiot although they are similar), and black and white blood sausages (botifarrons), the latter together with carn-i-xulla and cuixot we will not find in the other Balearic Islands, nor in the Spanish State. Also worthy of special mention is the white sobrasada or longaniza, which is mainly made in the municipalities of Es Mercadal and Alaior, and could well be the pre-Columbian ancestor of today's sobrasada, as it does not include any of the products brought from the Americas, such as paprika.

As in all cultures where pigs are slaughtered, this was held in the winter months, so that the sausages could be properly cured, and especially on the island of Menorca, where due to its humidity the curing of the sausages was endangered if they were made in the warm months. In fact, in Menorca, hams cannot be cured, to give an example.

Nowadays, sausages are made by professional companies that take care of the artisanal way of making them, but complying to the maximum with health and marketing standards.

These sausage producers belong to the Federation for Small and Medium Enterprises of Menorca (PIME Menorca) forming the Association of Sausage Production Companies of Menorca.