Pepperoni
The pepperoni or peperoni is a variety of salami with peppers from American cuisine. Pepperoni > is characteristically mild, slightly smoky, and bright red in color. Thinly sliced pepperoni is a popular topping on pizzas in the United States.
Etymology
The term pepperoni is a loanword from the Italian peperoni, plural of peperone 'pepper'. The first use of pepperoni to refer to a sausage dates from 1919. In Italian, the word peperoncino (diminutive of peperone) refers to the hot peppers.
History
Pepperoni is an Italian-American creation. It is a dry-cured sausage, with similarities to the spicy salami of southern Italy, such as Italian sausage or soppressata. The main differences are that pepperoni has a finer grain (similar to Milan's unspiced salami), is generally milder, and is produced with the use of sausage casings. Pepperoni is mass-produced to meet the demand for sausage. In the United States, pepperoni has become a widespread ingredient for pizza.
Production
Pepperoni is usually made from a mixture of pork and beef. Turkey is also often used as a substitute, but the use of poultry in pepperoni must be properly labeled in the United States.
Curing (usually done with nitrates or nitrites to protect against botulism) also contributes to pepperoni's reddish color, by reacting with the heme in the myoglobin of the meat's protein components.