Clean label, genuine flavor: the healthy choice of Renieri cured meats

Friends, when you’re at the deli counter or doing your grocery shopping, do you ever take a close look at the label? That small piece of paper, sometimes a bit overlooked, is actually very important: it should be our compass to understand what we’re about to bring to the table and truly eat. Often, however, ingredient lists are long, full of names that look like chemical formulas and leave us a bit confused.

At Renieri, ever since we started this adventure, we’ve made a clear, simple, and honest choice, a choice we like to call our “Clean Label” philosophy.

What does it mean? Few written things, clear and easy to understand, because to make our cured meats we use few ingredients, all natural, but of a quality that for us is exceptional. Today, we want to tell you a bit more about what this simplicity means to us and why we are convinced that it is the best guarantee of a genuine flavor, quality without surprises, and, ultimately, a healthy choice for you and your families.

Taking a close look at the label, my friends, is a habit that truly makes a difference. You don’t need to be an expert or a chemist, just a bit of curiosity and the desire to make more informed choices when it comes to food. Understanding what’s inside a product is the first, fundamental step to eating better, to appreciating the work of those who produce with seriousness and transparency, and to taking care of ourselves. It’s a small gesture of attention that, believe us, has great value.

What is our “secret recipe” for making cured meats that we proudly define as “absolutely special”? In reality, it’s very simple and based on a few solid pillars. First of all, the choice of the best raw material: for us, this means using only fresh meats, never frozen, like the exceptional meat of our Cinta Senese DOP, which comes from our controlled supply chain and from animals raised with respect.

 Then, the right sea salt, the one that knows how to enhance without covering, dosed with the wisdom that our grandparents handed down to us. And finally, the natural spices, the real, fragrant ones, which taste good, like our fresh Italian garlic which, think about it, we grind here again, from time to time, because we are convinced that only in this way can release all its character and give personality to our products, unlike industrial powders, which are always the same and without a true soul.

To these few, precious ingredients, we add perhaps the most important of all: time. The slow and patient time of the slow, natural aging in our cellars, where the good air of Tuscany works its magic. Few natural ingredients, processed with our artisan mastery.

The result? Products that we can define, without fear of contradiction, as extremely genuine.

Precisely because our choice is to put the product and its naturalness first, and because we strive with all our might for maximum genuineness, there are many “production stratagems,” as we call them, that we have always refused to use. We want to be very clear and transparent with you about what you will never find, and why, in the cured meats that bear the Renieri name:

• No “aesthetic” additives or visual deceptions: We reject any kind of trick or shortcut designed only to modify the nature or “aesthetic” appearance of the products, perhaps to make them look redder or leaner than they are. This means: no added nitrites to give that bright, somewhat artificial red color (the beautiful intense color of our cured meats comes from the quality of the Cinta Senese meat and proper aging, nothing else!), no water pumped into the mixtures to increase weight and make the product seem wetter, no colorings of any kind, and no sugars or milk derivatives that are not part of the true and ancient Tuscan cured meat tradition. The preservation of our raw hams, for example, relies solely on the action of salt and long, patient natural aging.

• No GMO ingredients, neither for animals nor for you: We reiterate this strongly, because for us it is a fundamental principle: NO to GMOs. You will not find them in the diet of the animals in our controlled supply chain, and we will never use them, for any reason, as possible ingredients in our finished products. It is a clear choice, in favor of naturalness and respect for the environment and for your health.

• Nessun allergene nascosto, per la tranquillità di tutti: Proprio grazie a questa nostra scelta di usare solo ingredienti essenziali, semplici e naturali, tutti i nostri prodotti sono da considerarsi privi di qualsiasi allergene alimentare comune come il glutine e il lattosio.

• No “starter cultures” to speed up times: We do not use “shortcuts” like microbial starter cultures, which are sometimes used to accelerate or standardize fermentation processes in cured meats. We prefer to rely on the natural processes of maturation and aging, the slow ones, which require more time and attention, but which yield incomparable results in terms of depth of flavor and aromatic complexity.

It is no coincidence, and we say it with a touch of pride, that Salumificio Renieri has been included, since way back in 2012, in the Handbook of the Italian Celiac Association: this is a further guarantee of our attention and our seriousness, an extra thought for all friends who need to follow specific diets and who can choose our products with peace of mind.

Doing things this way, with such careful and respectful artisan processing, undoubtedly requires more time, more care, more effort. But then, why do we do it? Why don’t we choose the easier path, the one with shortcuts?

• For genuine taste, the real one, the old-fashioned one: Our greatest desire is to make you taste the authentic and unmistakable flavor of Cinta Senese meat, a flavor enriched only by sea salt and the natural aromas of the spices we have used for generations, following our grandparents’ recipes. We don’t want artificial, standardized tastes that cover or flatten the richness of the raw material. For us, this is excellent quality, this is respect for what nature and tradition offer us.
• To offer you a healthy, safe, and conscious choice: We are deeply convinced that a product made with few selected ingredients, without unnecessary additives, without hidden allergens, and processed with natural methods, is simply a better choice for anyone looking for a healthier, more conscious, and more genuine diet. We don’t want to make medical promises, that’s not our job, but we want to offer you with transparency an extremely genuine product that you can trust. It’s our way of taking care of you.

All our commitment to simplicity, naturalness, and transparency is faithfully reflected on the labels of our cured meats. They are “clean” because our work is clean, honest, done with passion here, in the heart of our beloved Tuscany, given that the entire production process, from the selection of meats to the final aging, takes place entirely in Poggibonsi, Siena, in our family company.

We invite you, as friends, to become increasingly curious and attentive consumers. Take that extra moment to read the labels, to truly understand what you are choosing to bring to your table. It’s a way to reward those who, like us at Renieri, work every day with seriousness, respect, and a deep love for true quality.

Choosing Renieri means choosing an authentic flavor, naturally good, and the peace of mind of a product without unpleasant surprises. It’s our promise, our pact of trust with you.