Beyond prosciutto: discover Renieri’s artisan Cinta Senese DOP treasures

When you think of Renieri cured meats, it’s natural for your mind to immediately fly to our magnificent Renieri Cinta Senese DOP Prosciutto, a true symbol of our passion and Tuscan tradition. And we are incredibly proud of it! But today, we want to share a small secret with you, or rather, invite you to discover that the salumi art of the Renieri family, which has been passed down to us with so much love, doesn’t end there. There’s an entire world of other “artisan treasures,” all born from the precious meat of our Cinta Senese DOP, which we create every day with the exact same care and dedication, and which are just waiting to be known and, of course, savored.

So, get ready for a small journey to discover some of these lesser-known but equally special protagonists of our production. These are cured meats that carry with them the same philosophy of excellent quality, authentic tradition, and deep respect for the raw material that characterizes every Renieri product. We’ll tell you what makes them unique and how to best enjoy them to capture every nuance of their flavor.

The salamino (small salami), for us Tuscans, is much more than a simple sausage: it’s the taste of conviviality, of hearty snacks shared with friends, it’s the scent of home. And our Renieri Cinta Senese DOP Salamino encapsulates all the essence of this beloved tradition, with the guarantee of a raw material that is second to none.

• A dive into history and tradition:
  For centuries, in the countryside of our Tuscany, the preparation of salami was a true ritual, an ingenious way to preserve precious pork and ensure a supply of flavorful and nutritious food throughout the year. Every farming family had its little secrets, jealously guarded, but the base was always the same: top-quality meat, simple and fragrant spices, and a lot, a lot of patience.

• Artisan processing according to Renieri:
  For our Renieri Cinta Senese DOP Salamino, the recipe is simple but rigorous. We use only the “noble” cuts of Cinta Senese DOP from our controlled supply chain. These meats are ground and then carefully mixed with sea salt, black peppercorns (sometimes also freshly ground, for a livelier touch), and our fresh Italian garlic, which we still crush on the spot to release all its intense aroma. It’s a point of honor for us to emphasize that we do this without the use of sugars, milk powder, or microbial starter cultures, to maintain the purest and most natural flavor possible. Our salamino is free of any allergens and is carefully stuffed into natural casing, just as it was done in the past. The aging then takes place slowly, without haste, in our natural cellars for at least 80-90 days. During this resting period, noble molds, the good ones, naturally appear on the surface of the salamis, an unmistakable sign of a healthy environment and a process that respects nature’s time.

• Unique characteristics, an invitation to taste:
  When you slice it, our Cinta Senese DOP Salamino presents with a beautiful bright red color, lightened by the pure white of the well-distributed fat. The aroma is immediately inviting, with spicy notes of pepper and garlic blending harmoniously with the sweet and characteristic scent of aged Cinta meat. On the palate, it’s a perfect balance between the intrinsic sweetness of the meat, a gentle savoriness, and an aromatic persistence that, we assure you, immediately invites another slice. The texture is tender but pleasantly firm, never rubbery.

• A friend’s tip from Renieri, how to best enjoy it:
  The best way to appreciate all its goodness? Simply with a nice slice of unsalted Tuscan bread, the “sciocco” as we affectionately call it here. It’s perfect for a rustic and genuine appetizer, as the star of a cured meat platter in good company, or for a substantial snack that tastes of tradition. If you want to pair it with wine, a glass of young and lively Chianti Classico is its ideal companion. You’ll taste the wonder!

Let’s now move on to a product that, for many, is pure poetry for the palate, a true treasure of our most authentic culinary tradition: lard from Cinta Senese DOP. An seemingly simple ingredient, yet capable of transforming any dish into an unforgettable experience.

• A dive into history and tradition:
  Lard has always been a fundamental element of the humble, rural cuisine of our Tuscany, an ingenious way to waste absolutely nothing of the pig and to have a reserve of incredibly flavorful fat available. It was excellent for cooking, for adding flavor to soups and soffritti (sautéed aromatics), or simply to be enjoyed, thin as a veil, on a slice of hot toasted bread. And the one obtained from our Cinta Senese, we guarantee, truly has an extra something.

• Artisan processing according to Renieri:
  Our Renieri Cinta Senese DOP Lard is special right from the raw material. Being naturally richer in oleic acid (a good fat, similar to that found in olive oil), Cinta Senese fat has a much softer consistency and is particularly pleasant on the palate. To prepare it, we carefully select the best back fat from our Cinta Senese DOP pigs and let it rest under coarse sea salt, inside traditional marble basins (conche), for more than 6 long months. During this slow maturation period, we add the aromas of our land: fresh garlic, black peppercorns, and a selection of aromatic herbs that give it a unique and unmistakable aroma. The ingredients are few, simple, and genuine: Cinta Senese DOP pork fat, salt, spices, and aromatic herbs. And as with all our products, it is strictly gluten-free, preservative-free (chemical), lactose-free, and sugar-free.

• Unique characteristics, an invitation to taste:
  The aroma of our Cinta Senese DOP Lard is an invitation that’s hard to resist: the aromatic notes of herbs blend with the delicate and almost buttery sweetness of the fat. On the palate, it’s a true explosion of flavor: sweet at first, then perfectly savory, with an aromatic persistence that envelops and captivates the palate. Its consistency is incredibly soft, almost ethereal; it literally melts in your mouth, releasing all its wonderful aromas.

• A friend’s tip from Renieri, how to best enjoy it:
  The simplest, and perhaps most sublime, way is to slice it very thinly (almost transparent!) and lay it on toasted homemade bread crostini, perhaps with a drizzle of acacia or wildflower honey and a light grind of black pepper. It’s fantastic for larding meat roasts, for adding a special and fragrant touch to legume soups or minestrone, or simply enjoyed on its own, in its purest form, to appreciate all its incredible delicacy.

And to conclude this small journey among our treasures, we present a truly special piece, a fundamental ingredient for many iconic recipes not only in Tuscan cuisine but throughout Italy: our Renieri Cinta Senese DOP guanciale, which here in Tuscany we affectionately call Gota.

• A dive into history and tradition:
  Gota, or guanciale (pork jowl), as the name suggests, is produced from the part of the meat located between the animal’s throat and cheek. It’s a cut particularly rich in noble fat, but also incredibly flavorful, traditionally used in rural cuisine to add taste, depth, and substance to dishes, especially pasta sauces. Its unique consistency and its ability to release an aromatic and delicious fat when cooked make it a truly irreplaceable ingredient for certain preparations.

• Artisan processing according to Renieri:
  For our guanciale, we use exclusively the jowl of Cinta Senese DOP pigs from our supply chain. The processing is simple, as dictated by the most authentic tradition: only sea salt, black peppercorns, and our selected spices are used. We add nothing else, absolutely no chemical preservatives or artificial flavors. The aging then takes place slowly, without haste, in our natural cellars for at least 90-120 days. During this period, the guanciale dries to the right point, concentrates its flavors, and develops that intense aroma and characteristic consistency that make it so sought after and appreciated by connoisseurs.

• Unique characteristics: an invitation to taste:
  The aroma of our Cinta Senese guanciale is intense, pleasantly spicy, with sweet and enveloping notes given by the noble fat of the Cinta. The taste is both delicate and incredibly flavorful, and the consistency is soft, with a very fluid fat that, once heated in a pan, becomes almost transparent and releases an exceptional, very fragrant seasoning. It’s no coincidence that its quality has also been recognized by experts: our Cinta Senese DOP guanciale has been awarded the prestigious “2 Slices” by the “Grandi Salumi” guide from Gambero Rosso!

• A friend’s tip from Renieri, how to best enjoy it:
  Friends, here the culinary uses are truly numerous and all incredibly delicious! Our Cinta Senese guanciale is the secret ingredient, the one that makes the difference, for a Carbonara or an Amatriciana of true champions, capable of making you dream. Cut it into strips or cubes, slowly brown it in a pan, without adding other fats, until the fat becomes transparent and the lean part slightly crispy, and use it to season your favorite pasta. But it’s also excellent thinly sliced on a hot bruschetta, or for adding a special and deep flavor to legume soups and winter minestrone.

As you will have understood from this small taste, whether it’s our renowned Prosciutto, the traditional Salamino, the fragrant Lard, or the very flavorful Cinta Senese Guanciale, there’s a common thread, a constant commitment that links all our artisan treasures: it’s the Renieri philosophy. It means always starting with the best raw material, with a special preference and love for our exceptional Cinta Senese DOP. It means artisan processing, still done today with hands and heart, respecting the slow times that nature and tradition require. It means no shortcuts, no compromises on quality, and a daily commitment to offer you a genuine, transparent, and incredibly good product that tells the story of our family and our land.

We hope that this small journey to discover the other treasures of Salumificio Renieri has piqued your curiosity and, why not, made your mouth water a little! There’s truly an entire world of authentic Tuscan flavors to explore in our range, and every one of our cured meats, we assure you, tells a unique story of passion, tradition, and timeless quality.

Choosing a Renieri product, whatever it may be, means bringing to your table the exact same guarantee of excellence, the same artisan care, and the same family passion that we put into everything we do, from the first day to the last.

We warmly invite you to visit our online shop or our selected retailers to discover the entire range of our artisan Tuscan cured meats. Let yourself be tempted by a complete tasting: we are sure you will find new, unforgettable favorites to add to your table and to your most cherished moments.