Saucisse de Morteau

Saucisse de Morteau and Jésus de Morteau are pork sausages from Franche-Comté, France, registered under PGI file PGI-FR-0556. Both are filled into natural, colourless pork casings, closed with a small wooden stick and natural-fibre string, and slowly smoked over resinous wood, producing a characteristic amber colour and a smoke flavour described in the specification as balanced and lasting.

About this designation

Saucisse de Morteau is a straight, cylindrical pork sausage with a casing diameter of at least 40 mm at the time of filling, filled into the large intestine of the pig. Jésus de Morteau is a variant with a less regular cylindrical form and a casing diameter of at least 65 mm, filled into the large intestine or caecum. Both are prepared from a mixture of lean pork and hard cutting fat, coarsely minced with a grain calibre of at least 8 mm for fat and meat. The specification requires slow smoking with resinous wood, which gives the products their characteristic amber colour. The physico-chemical requirements set in the specification include a moisture content with fat removed of no more than 75 % in the raw product, a fat content of no more than 30 % at a moisture content of 75 %, a collagen-to-protein ratio of no more than 16 %, and a sugar content of no more than 1 % at a moisture content of 75 %. Animals selected for production must be females or castrated males; uncastrated males and cull sows are not accepted. The proportion of fattening pigs sensitive to halothane must be less than 3 %, and all must be non-carriers of the RN- allele. Pigs are fed on a whey diet with a linoleic acid content restricted to 1.7 % of their diet. The designation was registered as a PGI on 26 September 2006 under eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000013915.

Source: The register document this entry was written from · retrieved August 26, 2026

Distinctive facts

• Registered as a PGI on 26 September 2006 under file number PGI-FR-0556 and eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000013915; both names Saucisse de Morteau and Jésus de Morteau are protected.
• The specification requires slow smoking exclusively with resinous wood, a practice traced to the coniferous forests of Franche-Comté and the traditional tuyé smokehouse.
• The casing for Saucisse de Morteau must be at least 40 mm in diameter at filling; for Jésus de Morteau the minimum is 65 mm.
• Pigs must be fed a whey diet with linoleic acid restricted to 1.7 % of their diet, and the proportion sensitive to halothane must be less than 3 %.

Tasting notes

Franche-Comté smoked pork sausage with characteristic wooden peg ("cheville") closure, smoked over conifer wood in traditional tuyé chimney. Coarse-ground pork, distinctive deep-smoky flavor, robust texture, balanced spicing with garlic and pepper.

HoReCa use

Poached and sliced over potato salad (potée comtoise); served with lentilles vertes du Puy; a classic Franc-Comtois bistro dish.

Packaging

• whole-piece-vacuum-300-400g
• whole-piece-vacuum-500g
• pre-cooked-vacuum-300g