Tonino Sansone, Calabria. Nduja, Soppressata and Salsicce Piccante

Cervicati, Cosenza

Our rare breed, Nero Calabrese salumi is made by Tonino Sansone on his farm with 30 hectares of wonderful Mediterranean woodland just outside the village of Cervicati. Tonino has no history of farming; he is the local bus driver in the mornings and also the deputy mayor of the village but he has 3 sons and, with youth unemployment at 55% in Calabria, he wanted to create something for his family's future.

The 300 rare breed pigs live outside in a mix of holm oak, buckthorn, juniper and myrtle all year round and are slaughtered at between 24-26 months old. They don't mind heat or cold but hate rain and have a barn to shelter in whenever they want. Each sow has her own hut where she comes to farrow, A high fence around her enclosure keeps out the wolves.

Up until 2010 the farm was certified organic and grains for feed had to come from northern Italy. Now they come from local ‘contadini’ all of whom had stopped harvesting their crops as prices were too low. It is Tonino's wife, Lorena, and two sisters-in-law Anna and Silvana who make everything. The spices used in the curing – peperoncino dolce and piccante - are also grown on the farm. Very unusually, no additives or preservatives of any kind are used. The ingredients of all the products are just pork, salt and chilli.