Figatellu

The figatellu is a smoked fresh sausage in which the proportion of pork liver ranges between 30 and 50 per cent of the forcemeat, depending on the producer, making it the dominant ingredient and giving the sausage its dark colour, pronounced taste and particular texture.

Its making belongs to the mazzeghju, the family pig slaughter of Corsica, the central winter event of the island’s rural holdings. The liver, a perishable organ, is dealt with first, on the very day of slaughter. The forcemeat is stuffed and hung in the fucone, the central hearth of the traditional Corsican house, open and without a flue, where the smoke rises freely before escaping through the roof.

The chestnut tree structures the whole Corsican pig economy. Its chestnuts form an important part of the diet of free-ranging pigs, notably the nustrale breed; its wood is the smoking fuel for the figatellu; its flour is part of the composition of pulenta, the Corsican polenta that traditionally accompanies it. This coherence between animal feed, smoking and culinary accompaniment is characteristic of artisanal Corsican charcuterie.

The figatellu is eaten at two stages, depending on its degree of drying. In its fresh version, two to three weeks after making, it must be cooked, grilled over chestnut embers or pan-fried. In its dry version, after a month or more, it may be eaten raw, thinly sliced.

This duality posed regulatory difficulties during the harmonisation of French health standards in the 1970s and 1980s: the figatellu fitted none of the codified categories, too rich in liver to be classified as a standard dry sausage, not dry enough to count as a stable cured product. It was subject to varying interpretations by the inspection services. Cases of hepatitis E linked to the consumption of insufficiently dried or insufficiently cooked figatellu were reported by the health authorities in the 2000s and 2010s, which led to information campaigns in mainland France.

The figatellu is made by artisan charcutiers and by private households in the rural communes of the island’s interior, notably in Castagniccia, Niolu and Balagne areas. It is sold on Corsican markets and in delicatessens specialising in Corsican charcuterie in mainland France.

The nustrale pig, a hardy breed raised in semi-liberty in the maquis and the chestnut groves, is the traditional raw material. Since 2014, three European PDOs have protected three of the island’s four emblematic charcuteries: the Coppa de Corse - Coppa di Corsica, the Lonzo de Corse - Lonzu and the Jambon sec de Corse - Prisuttu. All require the exclusive use of the nustrale pig and respect for the artisanal techniques. The Figatellu de l’île de Beauté joined this framework in July 2023 with a PGI, a less strict form of protection than a PDO, since it does not require the pork to be Corsican.

Demand for figatellu exceeds the island’s production capacity, leading to the sale of products made from mainland pigs under the same name. The PGI obtained in 2023 governs the designation and the making techniques, but does not require Corsican origin for the pork, a point the island’s producers continue to press in view of a possible later upgrade to a PDO.