House Salami, Tempus

Tempus are a British charcuterie company focused on creating the very best quality charcuterie from responsibly and ethically sourced animals.

All Tempus charcuterie is butchered, cured, fermented, dried and matured (3-4 months for coppa, salami and loin) at a purpose built facility in Weybridge.

Having done extensive research in the farming industry, the Tempus team quickly learnt that most pigs are slaughtered between the age of 8 and 10 months old. Until this age, the animal’s growth is rapid but past this point, it slows down significantly, so for most farmers and companies, it doesn’t make financial sense to keep the animals as they become very expensive to feed with no tangible return. For this reason, Tempus turned to ex-breeding sows, pigs who are generally 4-5 times older than commercial pigs, as well as larger, with a better marbling of fat and a denser back and belly fat deposit. Alongside these qualities from a charcuterie making perspective, it is also much more ethical to take animals at the end of their lives than at the start, and more sustainable to use pre-existing animals than to breed more from scratch.
In summary, using ex-breeding sows and ex-dairy beef guarantees that all the animals are over 4 years old and weigh in excess of 180kg, ensuring beautiful fat ratios, marbling and an intense flavour that can’t be matched with young, small animals.