Thoughts on Adding some Apple to the Bleu Cheese & Apple Summer Sausage Seasoning?

[NDKoze]

I am going to order some Bleu Cheese & Apple Summer Sausage Seasoning and going to be also adding some High Temp Bleu Cheese to the mix.

I was also wondering what you guys thought about adding some diced apples to the mix? I have a local meat market that makes Apple/Cinnamon brats with apple added and they are really good.

If so, how much should I add per pound?

Would it be better to dehydrate the apples prior to adding to cut down on the water content?

Any other tips or is this just a bad idea?

Thanks,

Gregg

[Austin]

NDKoze
Adding other ingredients to sausage is definitely not a bad idea and it will work fine. It’s hard to say exactly how much to use because that is very subjective, but I’d recommend around 10% of the rest of your meat block. You just want to use enough to get a good dispersion in the meat and then not use too much that the flavor is overwhelming. It would be kind of like what we recommend with adding cheese at a 10% level. You can use less or more, but I’d stay in a 5% to 20% range.

If you dehydrate the apples first, you’d want to use less weight compared to your meat block and I’d compare that to how we recommend adding something like dehydrated jalapeno flakes at a 3-6% ratio of your total meat block. I don’t think you’d need to dehydrate the apples first though.

The biggest problem I’d say you could face with adding an additional ingredient like this would be the meat binding effect and if it changes. You could have some issue with getting the meat to bind to certain ingredients. Some people will blanch fruits/vegetables first before adding them, but I also know a lot of people that just put fruit/vegetables straight into sausage as well with great results! Blanching first would help with getting the meat to bind better to the fruit or veggies, but it’s not a requirement for it to still work fine. Some guys will add whole jalapeno slices to sausage, and if the meat binding is not adequate and you slice the sausage right through a chunk of jalapeno, that piece may not stick completely to the meat and want to fall out, but it doesn’t hurt the sausage at all. I’d expect an easier time with apples and the smaller the size of diced pieces that you used.

Let us know if you have any more questions!

[NDKoze]

Austin

Thank you for the reply. I will give this a shot.

I wonder if the lower water content of a dehydrated apple would reduce the issues with the meat binder working?

FYI, I will be using the Sure Gel meat binder.

[Austin]

NDKoze You shouldn’t have an issue with water content when adding apples. Apples should have a low enough water capacity to not greatly influence the product. The difference between dehydrated or raw apples might just come down to a texture variance. Adding Sure Gel will help in protein extraction and your overall bind. Sure Gel adds protein and phosphates to increase the available proteins for during protein extraction/mixing and the phosphates will help hold and bind water as well. Just make sure you mix for an adequate time so the meat is very, very sticky. However, I would recommend that you don’t add the apples during any grinding stage. I’d hold them until the end, like high temp cheese, and add in during your last mixing cycle after all grinding has been completed.

[NDKoze]

Austin
Perfect! That is what I will do.

Thanks again!

[Austin]

NDKoze Glad I could help! Let us know how it turns out!!