On the other hand, traditional methods of production are prone to contamination, originating both from the raw materials and the production premises, which are not always specifically arranged to limit or to reduce contamination with harmful microorganisms
[9][10][11]. Various attempts have been made to improve the safety of traditional meat products; however, many of them do not meet the requirements of the customers to preserve the familiar taste and appearance of the products they have been accustomed to
[12][13]. The use of diverse spices as natural antimicrobials in traditional meat products allows the reduction or exclusion of artificial preservatives, such as nitrates and nitrites, that are proven to be harmful for human health when used excessively
[14]. These spices and herbs possess a wide spectrum of antimicrobial and antioxidant properties and in some cases their addition complements the effect of other added antimicrobials
[15][16][17][18]. Additionally, herbal ingredients, exhibiting important biochemical properties, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticarcinogenic properties, alleviate the burden of many noninfectious diseases, and hence they contribute to the overall health of the consumers
[19][20][21]. Balanced and frequent consumption of bioactive compounds through food not only ensures improved availability but also boosts natural immunity and may drive beneficial alterations in gut communities, supporting digestion and bioabsorption
[22][23][24][25].
Due to the considerable economic transformations in the last 100 years, i.e., the abolishment of private property and the prevalence of industrial food production during the communist period, the authentic features of meat processing typical for Bulgarians have gradually faded away, and are therefore scarcely discussed in the scientific literature
[33][34]. During the communist era (1945–1989), many recipes that originated from the Bulgarian gastronomic traditions were industrialized and modified by applying advances in food chemistry and technology, e.g., changing ingredients according to availability, adding preservatives and bulking agents and using artificial casings
[35][36][37]. Studies on Bulgarian traditional meat products have focused predominantly on the industrial versions, dealing with safety issues, isolation of favorable microbial strains and a variety of approaches to improve quality and production technology
[38][39][40][41][42]. Thus, local knowledge and traditions in the production of dry meat products were gradually assimilated and altered to fit an industrial production mode, focused mostly on quantities, but not necessarily following the food typicity and locality
[33]. Hence, original, locally recognized meat products have remained solely within the personal/family domain of Bulgarians.
2. Bulgarian Traditional Dry-Cured Meat Products
There is an increasing tendency toward the consumption of red meat in Bulgaria, which is currently maintained by the rising import of fresh and frozen meat and processed meat products
[45]. The researchers' latest research has also shown that Bulgarians have one of the highest preferences for red meat over poultry and other white meats in Southern Europe
[46][47]. This was well reflected by the number of traditional meat products made of red meats, presented in the current research. The number of herbal ingredients and their combinations were the most diverse in traditional meat products made of pork—the preferred meat type of most of the Bulgarian participants in this research. Family recipes, handed down through generations, and the availability of ingredients, especially in the rural areas, have allowed the preservation of the knowledge for the preparation of dry-fermented meat products all over the country.
Most of the currently assessed herbal ingredients are popular in the cuisines of other Mediterranean and Balkan countries as well, and even imported ones such as black pepper and cumin are regarded as “traditional” and are commonly used in the preparation of traditional meat products around Europe
[14][48][49][50][51]. Herbal ingredients in Bulgarian traditional meat products rarely included oregano, rosemary or thyme, which are commonly used for meat flavoring around Europe
[52]. Vignolo et al. suggested that the combination of garlic, cumin and black pepper was responsible for the typical flavor of “Bulgarian
loukanka”, a generic description of one of the industrialized types of sausages not related to any specific region in Bulgaria
[53]. Since the industrial versions were and still are more easily available to foreign consumers, the aforementioned pepper–cumin–garlic flavor formula, typical for “Bulgarian
loukanka”, has probably appropriated a “signature role” in the Bulgarian tradition in dry-cured meat production. However, the researchers' field observations failed to spot artisanal/homemade products with such a combination of spices. On the contrary, only 13 of the studied artisanal/homemade products contained any
Allium in the recipe. Overall, the artisanal/homemade products more often contained three or more herbal ingredients, which could be related to the quest for antimicrobial and antiradical activity contained by the essential oils and other phytochemicals
[3][54][55][56][57]. Studied industrial versions of Bulgarian traditional meat products contained simpler combinations of two–three herbs and/or spices, used both in pork and veal meat products. While such an approach ensures more convenient ingredient supply and safety management, it hardly allows the creation of unique memorable flavors that represent local tradition and terroir. For instance, historical studies on the artisanal manufacturing of
Gornooryahovski sudzhuk, one of the popular and frequently exported Bulgarian food products, revealed a variety of recipes recorded before 1944, with different numbers and combinations of spices, including nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, etc.
[58]. However, nowadays, the recipe for
Gornooryahovski sudzhuk (prepared only from veal), registered as PGI, has only three spices—cumin, savory and black pepper.
Some traditional products made for personal use were found to contain large amounts of salt, nitrates and nitrites, and thus more efforts are needed to raise the awareness of the producers for using traditional recipes on topics related to healthy lifestyle
[59]. Additionally, the promotion of the use and combination of different spices and preservation techniques can ensure the production of safer and healthier products. Usage of spice mixtures together with
Alliums implied that Bulgarian traditional production of dry-cured sausages relied on the herbal ingredients, not only for their organoleptic features but also for their antibacterial, antifungal and insecticide properties
[60][61]. This was especially important in the warmer southern parts of the country, where the researchers found five of the seven meat products with four herbal ingredients that are known for their antimicrobial and antifungal properties
[15][18][62]. Leek was preferred for the preparation of traditional sausages, a tradition also popular in northern parts of Greece. Leek contributes to the preservation of the fresher red color of the meat after drying due to the high nitrate content, especially in the pseudostem
[63]. Onion was less popular, present in
Novozagorska lukanka and
Kalbasa. The latter shared some similarities with the Polish smoked
Kielbasa and Slovenian
Kranjska klobasa, which typically contain garlic instead of onion
[64][65]. Natural phenolic compounds found in many
Alliums and Lamiaceae species possess considerable antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidative activities that have made them very popular in meat processing
[52].
The observed usage of three or more spices that are mixed with the sausage meat is not so typical for preserved meats produced in Europe, Africa and the Middle East
[8][14][53][66][67][68].
Capsella bursa-pastoris could be regarded as the most unusual aromatic herb, used locally in Strandzha Mt., Southeast Bulgaria, in the preparation of pork sausages. Shepard’s purse is known as a leafy vegetable in other cultures and it is recognized for its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties
[69][70][71]. However, this is its first mention in the preservation of meat products, which requires additional exploration. On the other hand, the most common spices used in Bulgarian traditional meat products were black pepper and paprika powder. They are important not only as taste and flavor enhancers, but also because of their health benefits. Black pepper is a universally known spice and medicinal plant with antimicrobial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory effects, due to the rich variety of piperidines, phenolics, flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, etc.
[72][73]; meanwhile, an oil-soluble fraction of paprika powder contains predominately capsaicin, capsanthin and capsorubin, which, as a complex, contribute to the safety of the traditional products, as strong antioxidant and antimicrobial agents, while bringing its natural flavoring and coloration
[74]. Savory and paprika powder, the most often used herbal ingredients of local origin in Bulgarian dry-cured products, are traditionally used in several European meat products with protected geographical origin (e.g., Iberian Chorizo, Slavonian Kulen and Morcilla de Burgos and others)
[51][75][76].
Satureja species are among the popularly used herbs for seasoning of fresh and cooked meat products in some parts of Southern Europe and Western and Middle Asia due to their pronounced antimicrobial activity, attributable to the high content of carvacrol and thymol
[77][78]. However,
S. montana L., that is used in the Balkans and in Spain, is currently added to the meat products as an essential oil and/or extract
[79]. Both were reported to express strong antioxidant and antibacterial activity against
Salmonella,
Listeria and
Staphylococcus due to the presence of carvacrol and
p-cymene
[79][80]. In Bulgarian traditional meat products, dry
S. hortensis herbage was found in recipes with both pork and/or beef/veal meat. Main constituents of
S. hortensis essential oil (carvacrol, thymol, γ-terpinene and
p-cymene) were reported to vary significantly depending on a number of factors, such as climate, genetic factors, harvesting times, etc., with carvacrol being the most important element for the antimicrobial activity of the essential oils
[78][81][82]. Overall, the aromatic composition and major constituents of
Satureja oils show significant intra- and interspecific variation
[83]. Therefore, the foreign savory spices or similar of unknown origin could easily compromise the typical features of the final products, which underlines the importance of locally sourced ingredients for traditional products, especially when they are produced in greater volumes for the market
[84]. Another carvacrol-rich herbal ingredient in the Bulgarian traditional sausages, far less frequently used than savory, is
Origanum vulgare ssp.
hirtum (Link) Ietsw. Carvacrol and thymol are one of the most important compounds in oregano essential oils that contributes to its strong antibacterial and antioxidative effect and has made it popular in the meat processing industry in the recent years
[85][86]. Inter- and intra-populational diversity of the essential oil compounds of the Bulgarian populations of
O. vulgare ssp.
hirtum was found to be high, with most of the plants belonging to the carvacrol chemotype
[87][88]. The collection of
O. vulgare ssp.
hirtum for the market is currently banned in Bulgaria due to its limited distribution in the country and the overexploitation of the wild populations
[89]. Small-scale traditional food production in Bulgaria fostered the domestication of the threatened
O. vulgare ssp.
hirtum in home gardens, which contributes to the alleviation of the pressure on the natural populations
[90].
In the artisanal/homemade pork meat products, the number of herbal ingredients included varied from one to five, and only one product had no herbal ingredients in the curing mixture (
Elenski but ham). Products made of beef/veal, buffalo, horse or mutton meat, and especially the whole-muscle cuts, had fewer herbal ingredients. Topical application of pungent dry herbs and spices is more usual for the dry whole-muscle cuts that are first salted and then covered with specific mixes
[8][91][92]. Traditional Bulgarian products from whole-muscle meat cuts are prepared in a similar way to the pastirma/bastirma method known also from the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean regions
[8][68]. However, the currently assessed products made of mutton/lamb and beef, favored in Muslim communities, were predominantly cured with plain sea salt without application of any spices or herbs. The latter implies that they were probably destined for further culinary preparations. According to ethnographic data from first half of the twentieth century in the Central Balkan Mts.,
pastarma products, made of mutton, goat and buffalo meat, prepared by dry- and wet-curing in brine, were also used for the preparation of various dishes
[93].
The same preservation method is used for the studied whole-muscle pork meat products; however, those were almost always flavored with spice mixtures. In this sense, the addition of herbs and spices categorizes these traditional meat products as products of higher value, as delicacies or mezze (starters), served and consumed in a celebratory manner
[94][95]. This could be also related to the traditional practices of presenting sausages and other valuable traditional foods as part of the customary expressions of gratitude and appraisal during different occasions, which was practiced by some of the researchers' respondents. In this sense, Bulgarian artisanal and homemade dry-cured meat products cannot be considered as processed products that utilize low-quality cuts and other nonanimal ingredients, as they are in other European countries
[7], but as added-value products.