Publication of an application pursuant to Article 50(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs

(2016/C 99/08)

This publication confers the right to oppose the application pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1).

SINGLE DOCUMENT

‘OECHER PUTTES’/‘AACHENER PUTTES’

EU No: DE-PGI-0005-0946-2.2.2012

PDO ( ) PGI ( X )

1.   Name(s)

‘Oecher Puttes’/‘Aachener Puttes’

2.   Member State or Third Country

Germany

3.   Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1.   Type of product

Class 1.2. Meat products (cooked, salted, smoked, etc.)

3.2.   Description of product to which the name in 1 applies

‘Oecher Puttes’ is the dialect variant of the name ‘Aachener Puttes’. In this single document, the use of one name also refers to the other variant.

The following are used to manufacture the product: pig’s head skin, pig fat, pork meat, pork rind, blood, nitrate curing salt, braised onions, spice mixture (particularly pepper, marjoram, thyme, cloves and nutmeg). The use of marjoram is obligatory.

Oecher Puttes is a blood sausage speciality with a solid, down-to-earth character and a spicy taste which is sold fresh, tinned or smoked. Some variations of Oecher Puttes are smoked.

For this speciality sausage the meat (derinded pig fat, pig’s head skin, rinds and lean meat) is precooked in hot water. The blood is heated to 45 °C before being mixed with the other ingredients. The rinds are then chopped with the blood and the pig’s head skin is chopped with the lean meat; braised onions are then added along with nitrate curing salt, spices and a little of the broth in which the meat was cooked, and the mixture is finely chopped. After the cubed pig fat has been added, the sausage mass is forced into natural casings such as bovine small intestines or pig’s chitterlings or appendixes or into sterile casings, or put into glass jars or tin cans. Depending on the products’ preservation requirements, they are then stewed in a water bath at 78 °C for the requisite period depending on the size, or heated in a pressure cooker to preserve them for the period required. The natural casings may be smoked for taste reasons or for preservation purposes.

The fresh pig fat is cooked and cut into equal-sized cubes and mixed by hand with the blood, pork rind and pork meat. The sausage contains approximately 35 % fatty tissue and around 20 % lean meat. The maximum fat content is 40 %.

‘Oecher Puttes’ contains at least 5 % meat protein free of connective-tissue protein, and thus complies with the guidelines for a medium-quality blood sausage set by the German Food Code Commission.

The raw ‘Oecher Puttes’ mass is forced into natural casings such as bovine small intestines, pig’s chitterlings or appendixes, or into sterile casings, or put into glass jars or tin cans.

3.3.   Feed (for products of animal origin only) and raw materials (for processed products only)

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3.4.   Specific steps in production that must take place in the defined geographical area

All steps in producing the ready-for-sale product must take place in the defined geographical area. The production of the product, from the testing of ingredients upon delivery to the production site to the final, packaged product, thus takes place in the geographical area. Any undoing of the initial packaging (removal of sausages from the can, cutting-up of sausages enclosed in casings or repackaging of slices in vacuum foils, etc.) may take place outside the geographical area.

3.5.   Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc. of the product the registered name refers to

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3.6.   Specific rules concerning labelling of the product the registered name refers to

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4.   Concise definition of the geographical area

The city of Aachen

5.   Link with the geographical area

Specificity of the geographical area

‘Oecher Puttes’ is a traditional product from Aachen. Due to Aachen’s geographical situation in a hollow and the protection afforded by its city walls, a particular regional identity developed early on, which set the city apart from its surrounding area. Around the start of the industrialisation period about 200 years ago, Aachen again took on a special role. The area to the south of Aachen underwent rapid industrialisation, while the fertile regions to the north-east remained largely agricultural. In the midst of this clash between industrialisation and traditional agriculture, the ‘Oecher Puttes’ provided a high-protein and high-calorie diet for the factory workers and coal miners during their hard physical labour, while at the same time allowing sustainable use of slaughtered animals as it also made use of slaughter products such as blood. This favoured the formation of craft industries, which have passed the traditional recipes and production methods preferred by their customers down from generation to generation to the present day.

Specificity of the product

This application is based on the special reputation of the protected name. This reputation is linked to the geographical origin of ‘Oecher Puttes’ and the typical characteristics of this product.

Blood sausage in the form of ‘Oecher Puttes’ is firmly entrenched in the Aachen language/dialect area. The term ‘Oecher Puttes’ is used exclusively for blood sausage produced in Aachen. The product is popular in regional cooking, e.g. fried, together with apples, potatoes and onions. This dish is known in Aachen dialect as ‘Hömmel än Eäd’ (heaven and earth). But ‘Oecher Puttes’ is also popular served with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut (‘Kompes’) or as an ingredient in a picnic. There is a strong link between the Aachen carnival (‘Fastelovvend’) and ‘Oecher Puttes’, which in ring form is also used for eating or indeed throwing during the procession, and which is even awarded as the ‘Puttes-Orden’ (Puttes Order). This Order and its awarding ceremony are a perennial feature of the Aachen carnival ‘Fastelovvend’. Recipients of the Order perform a verse in celebration of the ‘Oecher Puttes’ as part of their acceptance speech. Even the dialect poet Johann Ferdinand Jansen (1758-1834) devoted his poem of 1815 ‘Der Püttes’ to the product; it ended with the lines: ‘I know it is the finest dish/for rich as well as poor/to pan-fried Puttes, I tell you proudly/nothing can compare’. The popularity and status of ‘Oecher Puttes’ can also be measured in the number of phrases, stories and poems, especially in dialect, in which it is mentioned. One well-known phrase is ‘Fastelovvend een Oche — Ohne Puttes jeäht et net’ (‘Aachen Carnival isn’t the same without Puttes’). While ‘Oecher Puttes’ can be found on almost all menus in the traditional restaurants that are mainly to be found in Aachen’s old town, modern cuisine also often experiments with dishes involving ‘Oecher Puttes’.

The product also has particular characteristics. The use of fresh pig fat (‘Speck’) adds to its special reputation, as its freshness is what prevents unwanted oxidation which, if the sausage is stored for longer periods in contact with oxygen, leads to rancidity. Even freezing the pig fat shortly before making the sausage does not effectively prevent oxidation. Therefore only the use of fresh pig fat guarantees that producers’ high standards of taste and quality can be met. Fresh pig fat therefore plays an essential role in producing the typical taste. The presence of pig fat also affects the appearance of the sausage when sliced. Before being mixed in, the diced pig fat is carefully heated in the broth in which the meat was cooked until it is slightly translucent and ‘springs away’ when taken in the hand. Cooking it in this way ensures that the diced pig fat is not stained red by the blood, so that the white cubes of fat stand out against the dark sausage mixture and give the ‘Oecher Puttes’ its characteristic cross-section appearance.

The blood must be heated to around 45 °C before being worked into the meat-rind mixture using a bowl cutter. This reduces the metallic taste of the blood, which is important for the flavour of ‘Oecher Puttes’. It also increases the ability of the sausage mixture to bind when the diced pig fat is added.

Causal link between the geographical area and the quality or characteristics of the product (for PDO) or a specific quality, the reputation or other characteristic of the product (for PGI)

The special link between the product and the area in which it is produced is based on its particular reputation, which in turn is derived from its origins in the city of Aachen and the expertise of the firms which produce it. The skill and experience of Aachen’s butcher’s trade and its members means that the city has centuries of tradition in producing fine sausage. This production know-how has been and continues to be passed down from generation to generation, thus guaranteeing the reputation of ‘Oecher Puttes’. The applicant’s craft firms can look back on a 200-year-old tradition of producing ‘Oecher Puttes’.

Reference to publication of the product specification

(second subparagraph of Article 6(1) of this Regulation)

LINK: https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/geo/detail.pdfdownload/41117

(1)  OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1.