EN Official Journal of the European Union C 455/7

Publication of an application pursuant to Article 50(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs

(2016/C 455/07)

This publication confers the right to oppose the application pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1).

SINGLE DOCUMENT

‘MORCILLA DE BURGOS’

EU No: ES-PGI-0005-01282 — 21.11.2014

PDO ( ) PGI ( X )

1. Name

‘Morcilla de Burgos’

2. Member State or Third Country

Spain

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1. Type of product

Class 1.2. Meat products (cooked, salted, smoked, etc.)

3.2. Description of the product to which the name in (1) applies

‘Morcilla de Burgos’ is a meat product obtained by stuffing a sausage and then cooking it. It is made from the following basic ingredients: onions of the ‘Horcal’ variety, lard or tallow, rice, blood, spices and salt.

The following ingredients make up the following proportions of ‘Morcilla de Burgos’:

— : onions of the ‘Horcal’ variety : more than 35 % — : rice : from 15 % to 30 % — : blood : more than 12 % — : lard or tallow : from 10 % to 22 %

When finished, ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ has the following morphological and organoleptic characteristics:

a) Shape and external appearance: When finished, the ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ is cylindrical in shape, between 30 and 100 mm in diameter, varying between 150 and 350 mm in length and occasionally curved, depending on the shape of the intestine used. The ends are stapled or tied shut; in the latter case enough thread is left to hang it up to air. The shape of the product is determined by the shape of the casing. Its external colouration varies from brown to a shade of dark brown which is almost black. The blood sausage is not cracked, there are no tears in the casing, and neither is there any visible mould. The sausage is firm and compact to the touch.

b) Colour and appearance when cut: When cut, the predominant aspects of the sausage’s appearance are white flecks owing to the presence of rice and the even distribution of the ingredients. Occasionally, small pieces of lard can be seen. The colour of the binder depends on permitted variations in its composition, although the basic colour is various shades of brown in all cases.

c) Texture: The sausage has a crumbly texture in the mouth, with the noticeable presence of onion and whole grains of rice, which should not be tough. It has a slightly fatty feel.

d) Aroma and flavour: The aromas and flavours of onion and the various spices should be perceptible.

e) Physico-chemical parameters of the final product: — pH between 6 and 7; — moisture content: between 54 % and 67 %; — fat: between 15 % and 25 % in dry matter; — total sugars: ≥ 3,5 % in dry matter; — fibre: ≥ 2,7 % in dry matter; — salt content: 0,5 % to 2 %.

‘Morcilla de Burgos’ may be put up for sale whole, with or without a casing, in portions or slices, provided that it is packaged and its origin can be identified.

3.3. Feed (for products of animal origin only) and raw materials (for processed products only)

The ‘Horcal’ variety of onion (Allium cepa L.). This is an indigenous variety of onion with the following characteristics: flattened spherical in shape, diameter of at least 80 mm, weight greater than 100 g, brown skin and the flesh varying from white to light greenish-yellow in colour.

The rice is dry, whole-grained, of short-grained Japanese varieties such as ‘Bahía’ or ‘Bomba’, belongs to the ‘Extra’ class and is stored in hygienic conditions. It may be pre-cooked.

It contains lard or tallow. It is stored frozen or refrigerated below 4 °C.

Sheep’s, cow’s or pig’s blood.

Salt (table salt).

Spices. The essential spice is black pepper. The use of paprika, oregano, cumin, cloves, garlic, cinnamon, caraway, parsley and aniseed is optional. These are kept, appropriately stored, in a dry environment until used.

Casing: clean, well-conserved and in good condition.

3.4. Specific steps in production that must take place in the identified geographical area:

All stages in the preparation and production of ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ must take place in the area, including the following:

— preparation of the lard or tallow and the onion;

— mixing of the ingredients;

— stuffing of casings;

— cooking and airing of the blood sausages.

3.5. Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc. of the product to which the registered name refers

—

3.6. Specific rules concerning labelling of the product to which the registered name refers

The commercial labels of each registered company must bear the words: Protected Geographical Indication ‘Morcilla de Burgos’.

The protected product is despatched bearing a numbered label containing at least the term ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ and the logo of the Protected Geographical Indication.

The logo of the Protected Geographical Indication is:

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

The defined geographical area covers the province of Burgos in its entirety.

5. Link with the geographical area

The reputation of ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ is one of the pieces of evidence for a link between the geographical area and the product.

There is little in the way of written information on ‘Morcilla de Burgos’, as for many centuries farmyard slaughter of pigs and the production of ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ took place within the family, and various recipes for making it were passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. From the second half of the 20th century onwards, regional cooking made a comeback, and a considerable number of books on gastronomy were published making mention of this fact and aimed at reviving or drawing attention to these gastronomic treasures.

For centuries, pigs were slaughtered in Burgos in winter. This was a deeply rooted family tradition, practised on a small scale. The products from slaughtering the pigs included fresh meat and tasty sausages, which helped feed the entire family for the rest of the year. The ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ was noteworthy in that it incorporated the blood, fat and intestines of the pigs.

The first written reference to ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ dates from 1928, when the renowned Spanish veterinary surgeon of the early 20th century, Cesáreo Sanz Egaña, refers to ‘a minced blood sausage made in the villages of [the province of] Burgos, characteristically containing a high proportion of onions, as well as rice, blood, fat and spices such as pepper, paprika and aniseed’. The fact that Sanz Egaña mentions this product in a technical manual shows that the product had already acquired well-deserved fame and prestige by that time. ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ originated some time after rice appeared in the Burgos region. In the 15th century, owing to its strategic location within Spain, Burgos became one of the most active centres of trade, which facilitated the arrival of rice from Valencia. It is believed that rice was incorporated into ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ in response to the need to increase production, extend its shelf life, and make it firmer and smoother on the palate.

The Burgos Municipal Archives holds the first application for an authorisation to sell ‘Morcilla de Burgos’, dating from 1908. The number of these applications increased from the 1950s and 60s onwards.

It was in the second half of the 20th century, as a result of the improvement in the transport of goods and a major migration of the rural population to industrial areas, that ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ crossed the boundaries of the province and its fame spread throughout Spain. Mention of ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ became more frequent, particularly in tourist guides and cookbooks, thus confirming it as one of the province’s typical specialities. These publications included:

— Enciclopedia de la carne: producción, comercio, industria, higiene. [Encyclopaedia of meat: production, commerce, industry, hygiene] Ed. Espasa-Calpe, Madrid. Sanz Egaña, C., 1948.

— ‘El trasfondo antropológico de la cocina castellano-leonesa’ [Anthropological background to the cuisine of Castile-Leon], Libro de la gastronomía de Castilla y León [Book of the gastronomy of Castile-Leon]. Ministry of Education and Culture, Government of the Autonomous Community of Castile-Leon, Valladolid. Jiménez Lozano, 1986.

— Embutidos (Alimentos de España) [Cured sausages (Foods of Spain)]. El País Aguilar, Madrid. Arrate, B., 1992.

— Cocina y gastronomía de Castilla y León [Food and gastronomy of Castile-Leon]. Ediciones Pirámide, Madrid. Fernández de Alperi, S., 1995.

— Libro práctico de la chacinería en casa [Practical manual for sausage-making at home]. Ediciones Altosa, Madrid. Díaz, R., 1999.

— Cocina Burgalesa Actual. Cocineros, Restaurantes y Artistas de Burgos 2011-2012 [Contemporary Burgos cuisine — chefs, restaurants and artisans of Burgos, 2011-2012.]. Javier Cano Hernán. Revista Siburita, 2011.

It is worth highlighting what Díaz Yubero (1998) says about this product in his work Sabores de España [Flavours of Spain]: ‘…the blood sausage is a humble yet incredibly flavourful sausage. The best blood sausages in Spain are made in Burgos, from pig’s blood’.

The making of ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ is associated historically with the farmyard slaughter of pigs. In the 20th century, ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ began to be made in industrial kitchens and factories using traditional methods and following recipes passed down from generation to generation. This did not lead to a decline in quality; in fact, the opposite occurred, as the product was made subject to cleanliness and hygiene checks, ensuring optimum conditions for its consumption. Thanks to mechanisation of the sausage-making process, the blood is supplied by authorised slaughterhouses. Most slaughterhouses in the province of Burgos handle several different types of slaughter animals and the blood of the various animals is not kept separate, so ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ can be made using pig’s, sheep’s or cow’s blood while safeguarding the end quality of the product at all times.

‘Morcilla de Burgos’ displays specific qualities distinguishing it from blood sausages produced in other parts of Spain. These qualities result from using the ‘Horcal’ variety of onion. According to the oral tradition concerning the slaughter of the animal, which is transmitted from father to son and persists in many villages even to this day, the best onion for making the blood sausage is the regional variety known as ‘Horcal’, also referred to as matancera (‘slaughterer’) or de matanza (‘of the slaughter’) because of its close association with that activity, given that it is harvested in autumn and at the beginning of winter, which coincides with slaughtering time. This onion has traditionally been grown in the valleys of the main rivers crossing the province of Burgos: the Pisuerga, the Arlanzón, the Arlanza and the Duero, and in more isolated areas in the Ebro basin.

This type of onion was described by José López y Camuñas (1854) and Sanz Egaña (1948, 1949) in relation to the production of the blood sausage. According to José López y Camuñas, author of numerous recipe books of the time, in order to make a blood sausage using the onions, ‘some sweet Horcal onions are chopped up, put on a piece of pale linen and left to stand overnight; shortly before making the blood sausages, take an onion from the cloth without touching it and put it in water to boil with some salt, and after taking it out, leave it to drain for a while’.

This type of onion is used in ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ because it is a sweet onion which is easy to chop up and because of its high fibre and water content (almost 92 %) and high water-holding capacity. In addition, being white, this onion is less strikingly visible in the finished product than other types of onion.

The share of ‘Morcilla de Burgos’ represented by the ‘Horcal’ onion has a direct influence on three of the physico-chemical aspects of the product — pH, total sugars and total dietary fibre (TDF) — and furthermore influences the number and intensity of volatile compounds, particularly sulphur compounds, it contains, which give it its particular aroma and spicy taste, enabling it to be distinguished from other blood sausages made in Spain with rice.

Reference to publication of the specification

(the second subparagraph of Article 6(1) of this Regulation)

http://www.itacyl.es/opencms_wf/opencms/informacion_al_ciudadano/calidad_alimentaria/4_condiciones_DOP/index.html

(1) OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1.