About

The Blackball Salami Story

The Blackball Salami Company, started as a family run butchery in 1992 by Pat Kennedy and Gary Seckers in Blackball on the West Coast of New Zealand.

The knowledge and skills Pat learned while travelling to Europe were brought home to the kitchen of the ‘Stonehouse’ (featured in the logo, and as it is today in the image above), and Blackball Salami Company was created. Over the years, recipes have been tested, tasted, adapted and improved upon to produce a unique and comprehensive range of wonderful products available today.

In February 1999 the people in Blackball watched in horror as the business went up in smoke. Every cloud has a silver lining and in its place has arisen the new, purpose built premises that enable the manufacture of high quality products.

The business is now owned and operated by a well established West Coast couple Phil & Debbie Russ. Phil – a butcher – worked at Greymouth’s New World for several years after starting an apprenticeship from school).

The company now has a range of over forty different products. The wonderful salami is made the old fashioned way, by natural curing and wood smoking. The original and venison salami are 100% visual lean. Almost all products are MSG and Gluten free, therefore they are available to the coeliac community.

A complete variety of cooked sausages are produced ready for the table and for a welcome taste addition to anti-pasta dishes. The black puddings are much in demand and made in a unique horse shoe shape as well in a chubb form, each one a work of art. There is also a tasty white pudding made with pork and leeks.

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Making Blackball Salami

Our salami is made from a variation of beef, pork and venison. The differences between the various types of salami are due to the kind of meat they contain, the proportion of lean meat and the fineness or coarseness of the mixture.

The raw materials in our salami are kept exceptionally lean. Our traditional italian and kosher style salami have a fat content added. All the finest herbs and spices are used in all our products to obtain our unique quality. We use only natural wood smoke during our smoking process.

The salami is then hung and dried in our humidity/temperature controlled room. During this time, the salami lose between 20 and 30% of their original weight.

Once they have reached their maturity they are packed to production requirements ready for you, the connoisseur.

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Emily Evergreen
Founder, Owner
West Coast Perfection

The West Coast of New Zealand, is a narrow coastline of rugged, natural beauty. It is where the high peaks and glaciers of the Southern Alps fed clear lakes, rivers and streams. Rich with lush vegetation, it is New Zealand’s most protected region.

The town of Blackball, began life as a small gold settlement towards the end of 1865 but it was the development of the coalfield in 1893 that began Blackball’s growth, until it reached its peak of around 1200 people in 1928.

Blackball came to national prominence in 1908 during a three month strike, when the coal miners illegally withdrew their labour, in support of a half hour lunch break, which was the right of every other miner in the country. Ironically during the court case the judge adjourned the court for an hour and a half’s lunch break. The miners were eventually successful.

This success signaled to New Zealand workers the benefit of collective action and the Red Feds were formed. From then evolved the Federation of Labour and the New Zealand Labour party.

The spirit, hard work and determination of the pioneers of Blackball is strong and thriving today at the Blackball Salami Company.

It is that spirit that ensures the perfection achieved by nature, is represented in all our Blackball Salami products. We are committed to providing the very best ingredients and recipes in our range of fine foods.

West Coast Perfection, its all in the making.

Massa aliquam montes, odio porttitor sit ac maecenas interdum ut tincidunt nisl erat quam eu natoque in nisl, lobortis sapien in nec ullamcorper vel.
Emily Evergreen
Founder, Owner
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