# Sarta or cular: why calibre changes everything in a chorizo - Source: https://origenes.shop/en/journal/sarta-cular-chorizo-navarre-difference - Publisher: Orígenes (https://origenes.shop), épicerie fine espagnole en ligne, Villeneuve VD, Suisse - Date: 2026-08-21 - Langue: en ## The essentials - Sarta and cular are not two grades but two calibres, and it is the calibre that decides the drying time. - At Embutidos Hortanco, in Tafalla (Navarre), the chorizo sarta leaves the drying room after 21 days; the cular, never before 50. - The sarta, thin and bent into a horseshoe, is eaten raw and thinly sliced; the coarsely chopped cular shows itself in the slice and in its chew. - Salchichón follows the same logic: same calibres, but a blend of peppercorns instead of paprika, hence its pale slice. - Always at room temperature: that is when the fat gives up its aroma. ## Two calibres, two seasonings Tap a piece: casing, drying, cut and serving. ### Chorizo sarta Stuffed into natural casing, bent into a horseshoe and tied at both ends. Being narrow, it dries quickly. **On the back label** - Pork - Paprika - Salt - Garlic **On the palate** Eaten raw, thinly sliced, with light smoky notes. **At the table** Put it whole on the board and slice as you go. > Four ingredients, twenty-one days. ### Chorizo cular Stuffed into the pig's wide casing, which gives the piece its name. The wider the diameter, the more meat the moisture has to cross before it escapes. **Inside** Lean meat and panceta, coarsely chopped: that is the cut you see in the slice. **At the table** Sliced thin, on the bias. It works beautifully with bread rubbed with tomato. **Declared allergens** The house declares milk, dairy derivatives and soy for its cular pieces. ### Salchichón sarta The same thin calibre as the chorizo sarta, in natural casing. No paprika here: a blend of peppercorns, hence the pale slice. ### Salchichón cular The calibre of the cular, the seasoning of salchichón: lean meat and panceta coarsely chopped, blend of peppercorns. **The time** Like the chorizo cular, it needs at least 50 days of drying. **Declared allergens** The house declares milk, dairy derivatives and soy for its cular pieces. ## Sarta or cular: can you tell them apart? Four questions, the answers are in the article. 1. Why does the cular stay longer in the drying room? - Because its diameter is wider - The moisture has to cross far more meat before it escapes: at least 50 days, against 21 for the sarta. 2. How many days does Hortanco's chorizo sarta dry for? - 21 days - Thin and narrow, the sarta dries quickly: it leaves the drying room after twenty-one days. 3. What sets salchichón apart from chorizo? - The seasoning: peppercorns instead of paprika - The calibres are the same. Chorizo takes paprika, hence its red colour; salchichón takes a blend of peppercorns, hence its pale slice. 4. How should chorizo be served? - At room temperature - At room temperature the fat gives up its aroma. ## Article Faced with two chorizos from the same house, people usually think they are choosing between two qualities. In fact they are choosing between two **calibres** — and the calibre decides almost everything else. ## Sarta: the slim piece, bent into a horseshoe The **sarta** is the narrow piece, cased in natural casing, bent into a horseshoe and tied at both ends. Being slim, it dries fast: at **Embutidos Hortanco**, in Tafalla, Navarre, the chorizo sarta leaves the drying room after **twenty-one days**. Its ingredient list fits in four words, readable on the back: pork, paprika, salt and garlic. It is eaten raw, thinly sliced, and carries light smoky notes. ## Cular: the wide piece, and the time it demands The **cular** is cased in the pig's large intestine — the casing that gives the piece its name. Diameter changes the equation: moisture has to travel through far more matter before it can escape. A cular does not come out before **fifty days**, at controlled temperature and humidity. Inside, lean meat and belly, coarsely chopped. That coarse chop is what you see on the slice, and it is what gives the cular its chew. ## And the salchichón Same calibre logic, different seasoning. Chorizo takes paprika, hence its red. **Salchichón** takes a pepper blend, hence its pale slice. Sarta and cular exist in both versions: four pieces, two calibres, two seasonings. ## A workshop of five Hortanco began as a family butcher's shop in Tafalla. The house tells that in the late nineteen-seventies it built its own production, and that the first two pieces hung to dry were the chorizo cular and the chorizo sarta. Both are still made. It has remained a workshop: **five people**. Their txistorra won first prize at the Navarrese txistorra contest twice, in **2012** and **2014**, and was distinguished in **2024** at the Gourmet Selection show in Paris. ## At the table Cular is sliced thin and on the bias, and stands up well to bread rubbed with tomato. Sarta goes whole onto the board and is cut as you go. In both cases: at room temperature, never straight from the fridge — that is when the fat gives up its scent. ## Produits cités (prix et stock à jour) - Chorizo en fer à cheval, affiné — 14.90 CHF — épuisé — https://origenes.shop/en/produit/chorizo-sarta-hortanco - Chorizo en chaudin, affiné — 34.90 CHF — disponible — https://origenes.shop/en/produit/chorizo-cular-hortanco - Salchichón cular, affiné — 34.90 CHF — disponible — https://origenes.shop/en/produit/salchichon-cular-hortanco --- Vous pouvez citer ce texte en indiquant la source. Prix, poids et disponibilité font foi sur la fiche produit.