by tristar » Mon Feb 14, 2011 7:29 am
Welcome Chefjancris,
Whilst it is possible to cure cultured sausages in the tropics they have to be formulated for the conditions, just search of "Urutan Bali" the Urutan Bali are dried in the sun during the day and brought in at night to prevent condensation forming on them. They are made without starter cultures or cures and rely on the anti bacterial properties of the root spices contained in them to control the initial bacterial growth, the bacteria in the environment and especially on the makers hands innoculate the Urutan, and it is these bacteria which slowly multiply to form the lactic acid to give longer term protection. The Urutan are always produced in smaller natural casings, and dry very quickly, within 1 week normally, and once dried the lowered water content then gives additional long term protection.
When I lived in Indonesia, I used an old fridge to dry my sausages, I was lucky as the original thermostat would allow the fridge to cycle at around 12 degC, I controlled the humidity with a large tub of saturated salt solution with a rock salt island in the middle sticking up above the water! which was placed in the bottom of the fridge.
As for the starter cultures, you can order from europe, flying airmail will not harm the cultures. Or you can use live yoghurt instead as has been discussed on the forum.
Good luck and let us know how you get on!
Last edited by
tristar on Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.