I continue with the best lunch meats for your sandwiches as part of my National Sandwich Month series. This is another category I never thought that I’d find enough sustainable choices that I ended breaking it into two articles. I previously listed the best general deli meats. Now I talk about the best charcuterie.
In alphabetical order, here are the 12 best sustainably sourced charcuterie brands:
Brooklyn Cured
Brooklyn Cured founder Scott Bridi is a Brooklyn native who has spent over 15 years as a chef, butcher, culinary instructor, and charcuterie producer. In 2010, he founded Brooklyn Cured with the mission to create a larger market for sustainably raised meat. He sources heritage meats from farmers engaged in regenerative agriculture practices. Brooklyn Cured also supports local and national food banks hunger-reliefs organizations. Brooklyn Cured’s pre-slice charcuterie products are divided into their pork options of various types of salamis and their beef options of a couple types of salami as well as bresaola.
Coro Foods
For over twenty years, Coro Foods has been around posing new points of views and voices to the deli meat industry. Coro means chorus in Italian. The name was chosen both to describe the chorus of non-traditional flavors in their meats and the chorus of voices at Coro that unite to create the meats. Coro goes for clean, all natural ingredients. They pride themselves in their cured meats being free of low-grade meat, fillers, dextrose, hormones, and antibiotics. The animals are all treated humanely. Among Coro Foods’ unique flavors of salami are mole, lemongrass, mustard, and orange cardamon. Coro also have a classic pepperoni.
Creminelli
The Creminelli family comes from Biella, Italy, where they ‘ve been making artisan salami for centuries. Cristiano Creminelli began running the production for their salami when he was 25, earning his family an official recognition by Italy’s cultural ministry as Artisans of Excellence. In 2006, Cristiano moved to Utah to form Creminelli Fine Meats with business partners Chris Bowler and Jared Lynch and introduce the United States to his family’s artisanally cured charcuterie. Creminelli offers a diverse variety of salamis, including genoa, sopressata, calabrese, and varzi, along with prosciutto.
Driftless Provisions
Driftless Provisions began in founder Ryan Wagner’s root cellar where he was learning the art of salami making. The name for his business comes as a nod to his inspiration from Wisconsin’s Driftless region of scenic landscapes, trout streams, and small family farms. As Ryan is an outdoorsman and steward of the land, he’s discovered the dinner table is a way to gather around with his friends and share his stories with salami he’s crafted from local hogs and wild game. He’s gone for a wide range of European style salamis, including Italian, French, German, and Greek. The animals Ryan sources vary from pig to bison to venison to elk.
Fra’ Mani
Acclaimed chef and cook author Paul Bertolli created Fra’ Mani in Berkeley, CA in 2006. Paul’s inspiration for Fra’ Mani came from the flavors, techniques, cultures, and traditions of Italy. They source the highest quality ingredients with a commitment to family farms with animals raised on farmland. Fra’ Mani’s charcuterie is also humanely raised and free of any antibiotics, hormones, and meat by-products. Fra’ Mani’s line contains many different types of salami. In the pre-sliced options, they have Italian dry, Toscano, and Genoa. Fra’ Mani also sells pre-sliced pepperoni.
La Quercia
Herb and Kathy Eckhouse started La Quercia a little over a decade ago to create a premium quality American prosciutto based on what they had learned living for three and a half years in Parma, Italy, where prosciutto originates from. Along with taste, sustainability is a top priority for La Quercia. They source their pork from farmers who treat their animals and land responsibly. The vast majority of their pigs comes from within a 200-mile radius both of both where the animals are raised and the slaughterhouses where they’re processed. Their pork is cured with sea salt from the United States and organic spices when possible. The La Quercia facility uses energy efficient technology and eco-friendly packaging. While La Quercia’s main focus is prosciutto, they also cure salami, pepperoni, and pancetta.
Maestri
Europeans have been enjoying the charcuterie from Maestri for three generations now. Their deli meats come from Italy as well as Spain, France, and Germany. When looking for farmers partner with, simple things like surrounding air and water and what the animals are fed are all important. In 2014, Maestri began offering their specialties to American consumers. Their products range from Italian meats such as prosciutto, salami, coppa, and mortadella to European meats such as chorizo and jamon.
Mercado Famous
Mercado Famous founders Aaron Luo & Carmen Chen were both raised in Spain by Chinese parents from families of hard-working entrepreneurs. Aaron’s grandfather was actually employed by Carmen’s grandmother as she was the owner of one of the first Chinese restaurants in Spain. Aaron & Carmen loved Spanish culture, but also felt a deep connection to their Chinese ancestry. As kids, they ate both Spanish and Chinese cuisine. The two didn’t meet up until they moved to the United States and were on separate career paths. Aaron & Carmen quickly bonded over their similar backgrounds and entrepreneurial interests, so they decided to launch a business together. While first developing a fashion brand, they realized how they missed Spanish food culture. Aaron & Carmen couldn’t find a good reasonably priced Spanish charcuterie in the U.S., so they created one themselves. Mercado’s Spanish deli meats offered are jamón, chorizo, salchichón, and lomo,
Rovagnati
As a child, Paul Rovagnati began working in the food industry as he helped his father with the family business which produced butter and marketed cheese. Paolo followed this by deciding to take on the task of creating a high quality prosciutto cotto as they weren’t available to consumers then. He introduced this in the 1980s with Gran Biscotto. His other dream was to bring his charcuterie to the United States. Paolo successfully accomplished this in 2021 when he opened a production plant for Rovagnati in Vineland, NJ. His products are targeted towards Americans looking for tasty, healthy, sustainable and convenient products. Rovagnati’s No Nitrites Ever Line consists of prosciutto, salami, and soppressata.
Salt & Twine
Salt & Twine is a heritage breed charcuterie using quality meats which are humanely raised without any hormones or antibiotics. They offer both traditional cuts such as prosciutto, Genoa salami, and pepperoni to bold options like lemon lomo, honey sriracha, chipotle mole, and mezcal & salted lime.
Three Little Pigs 
In 1975, a small Greenwich Villiage deli called Three Little Pigs specialized in charcuterie by two French chefs who met while traveling to Africa. At this time, French home cooking was still a new concept in the United States. After Three Little Pigs received excellents reviews by culinary icons such as James Beard, Mimi Sheraton, and Craig Claiborne; their business thrived and soon won awards from the Speciality Foods Association. They then decided to close their deli in order to focus on production of selling their foods across the country. Three Little Pigs’ cured meats consist of salami, chorizo, and jambon de Paris.
Volpi Foods
Volpi Foods‘ origins are on a hot summer night in 1899 when John Volpi arrived in the United States from Milan, Italy. Coming to America, he brought along the centuries old tradition of dry-curing meats overseas and bringing them to the U.S. midwest. Four generations later, the Volpi family continues the tradition of making the products by hand. And keeping with the promise of quality, Volpi has created its Raised Responsibly™ program. Practices of this program include comprehensive animal care from birth to harvest; herds with agricultural biodiversity; no gestation crates, steroids, or growth promotants; humane harvesting; third party animal welfare audits; and transportation audits. Volpi has a wide assortment of deli meats, including prosciutto, capicola, coppa, pancetta, salami, pepperoni, chorizo, and mortadella.