I originally made this with lime juice powder, which is lime juice sprayed onto maltodextrin, and which is hard to find.

I came across a product called Tajin (and there are others on the market) which is a combination of lime juice powder and chilies. It is sprinkled on fresh fruit to enhance the flavor.

To give the snack stick some heat, I added chipotle chili powder.

Ingredients and method

650 g Lean pork

Grind par frozen meat and fat once through a medium (6 mm) plate then mix with:

15 g Salt
1.63 g Cure #1
5 g Chipotle powder
5 g Tajin
4 g Black pepper
3 g  Dextrose

Added last:
0.3 g SafePro F-LC

Fill the mix into either 22mm/24mm (pre-soaked) sheep’s casings or collagen casings; 19 mm or 21mm would be fine. Save the sausage mix that’s left in the stuffer, wrap it tightly in a plastic bag or and put it into plastic food wrap (UK-cling film).

Weigh the sticks and make a note of the weight.

Ferment the sticks and the mix that’s wrapped up at 75°F (24°C). I do it in my oven with just the light on. Check the pH using a pH meter or pH strips after about 24 hours and (approx.) every 12 hours thereafter. Use the bit of mix that you wrapped up to do the tests.

The pH after 24 hrs. was 5.32
The pH after 42 hrs. was 4.90

The meat was put into the fridge to dry.
The initial weight was 622 g.
The weight after 7 days was 340 g, which is a weight loss of 45.3%.

Ready to eat!

These dried quickly (perhaps pH-related).  The chipotle powder gives them a warm, savory taste, with the heat more noticeable later.  You can replace the Tajín with lime juice powder.

Note for UK users: Tajín is available at Ocado, Sainsbury’s, and Tesco

For more information:

• Easy Salami – Snack Sticks – An Introduction

  
  This describes the general process of making fermented snack sticks.

Other snack sticks:

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