Traditionally, sausage casings were made from cleaned casings. Nowadays, however, natural casings are often replaced by collagen, cellulose, or even plastic casings, especially in the case of industrially produced sausages.
Natural casings ?
The natural casing responds better to external influences. In the case of dry sausage, for example, think about the drying process. The casing naturally allows the right amount of air and moisture through. This results in a nice gradual drying process. The same applies to smoking sausages. The natural casing allows the smoke to pass through better through an artificial casing. This gives the sausage a better smoke color and smoke flavor. So in the case of smoking, always choose a natural casing. When I fry a fresh sausage, the casing gets a nice texture and nice browning. Are you planning to smoke the sausage? A natural casing responds better to the smoke than an artificial casing. Read more about natural casings
Artificial casings
Artificial casings come in all shapes and sizes today. Today we know glued or sewn natural casings, cellulose, skin fibers and collagen (protein). The latter is often used for factory smoked sausage and quite similar to a natural casing. Read more about artificial casings
