Summer Sausage is most often dried sausage that goes through a fermenting and curing process using curing salt.
Although some types of summer sausage are also smoked summer sausage as well as cured sausage.
Summer sausage is fermented, and can be dried or smoked, and while curing ingredients vary significantly, curing salt is almost always used.
Seasonings may include mustard seeds, black pepper, garlic salt, or sugar.
Summer Sausage bought in the store does not need to be cooked.
The summer sausage bought in the store is already cooked and ready to eat.
You can eat summer sausage cold.
Summer Sausage is cooked and not raw.
You can slice up summer sausage and eat it without heating it up and eat it cold if you want too.
Normally summer sausage is served cold right out of the package.
Although some people may want to warm the summer sausage up there's no need to heat the summer sausage up.
I eat summer sausage right out of the package sometimes myself and don't heat it up first.
I've eaten a whole summer sausage myself although I always say that I'm saving some for later but it's so delicious that I keep a knife at my desk and will eat through the summer sausage within 10 to 20 minutes.
Summer sausage is meant to be eaten right from the package and it's not raw.
Just remember to remove the paper wrapper from around the summer sausage before you eat it.
If you've bought summer sausage from the store or your local butcher's shop, there's no need to cook or prepare it in any way.
Summer sausage can be served straight from the package and is an excellent pairing for any charcuterie board you want to serve at the next dinner party.