Sausage’s versatile nature sets it up as a prime guinea pig for experimenting with meat flavors and combinations. Whether smoked, grilled, fried, boiled or baked, sausages can be prepared in a variety of ways, but at the heart of any good sausage is its filling.

Meat processors continue to surprise consumers with new takes on the centuries-old products. A slight change in spices here or an added ingredient there can transform a traditional sausage into a game-changing meat concept.

Recent rollouts from processors like Niman Ranch, Pederson’s Natural Farms and Teton Waters Ranch testify to the ingenuity of processors that is still alive today.

Leaning on Lamb

Niman Ranch, Westminster, Colo., recently launched its first value-added lamb products with merguez lamb sausage and gyros.

“We’re excited to add these two unique items to Niman Ranch’s outstanding selection of prepared products,” said Cody Hiemke, Niman Ranch’s lamb program manager and a lamb rancher himself.

Hiemke said that feedback from everyone who has sampled the gyros and sausage has been exceedingly positive.

According to research from the American Lamb Board, gyros are America’s second favorite lamb dish behind only lamb chops, and the amount of merguez sausage found on restaurant menus has increased 10% in the past year. This lamb sausage appears in diverse dishes — from flatbreads to Scotch eggs to shakshuka.

Tapping into US consumers’ craving for global spices, the gyros and merguez sausage offer flavorful but not spicy hot protein options. The gyros are a blend of Niman Ranch lamb, beef and spices, including seasoned pepper, oregano, marjoram and thyme. The merguez sausage, stuffed in natural lamb casings, has a North African flavor profile with a custom blend of three different paprikas, harissa and cumin.

The new lamb offerings, designed to be sold from the frozen specialty case, are currently available at select specialty grocers across the country, including Plum Market, Dorthy Lane Markets, Buehler’s Fresh Foods, Acme Fresh Markets, Marczyk Fine Foods, Berkeley Bowl, Cal Mart, North Coast Co-Op, Falletti Foods, Magnani Poultry, Island Naturals and Cartwright’s Market.

The debut of these two new products strategically aligns with the 30-year anniversary of the company’s lamb program.

Niman Ranch first partnered with husband and wife Al Medvitz and Jeanne McCormack of McCormack Ranch in Northern California to kickstart its lamb program. The ranch created a regenerative process for constantly replenishing the soil, maintaining clean waterways, preserving wildlife habitat and mitigating the effects of climate change.

Not only is the McCormack Ranch the first lamb producer in Niman’s network, but McCormack and Medvitz played an instrumental role in the founding of Niman Ranch. They connected their Peace Corps friend and Iowa hog farmer Paul Willis to Bill Niman, a California cattle rancher and Niman Ranch founder.

“Were it not for Jeanne and Al’s introduction, there would be no Niman Ranch today,” said Willis, Niman Ranch’s founding hog farmer. “Locally, they have preserved a very special place through their sustainable grazing practices that have been passed down over generations. Nationally, they have helped build a company that supports over 600 farmers and ranchers today, together producing specialty products for our country’s culinary leaders.”

Since 1993, Niman Ranch has worked with over two dozen select family ranchers in California, the Pacific Northwest, Utah and Idaho through its lamb program.

Like its beef and pork programs, the lamb program relies on independent family ranchers to produce sustainably raised lamb with no added hormones or antibiotics that are Certified Humane.

The company said it has the largest farmer and rancher network in North America to be Certified Humane.

Source: Pederson's Natural Farms

Pickled product

Looking to add a little zing to traditional sausage, Pederson’s Natural Farms, Hamilton, Texas, introduced Mild Pickled Sausage. Pederson’s uses its artisanal sausage recipe, combining pork and beef, and soaks the sausage in brine for about a week.

“Sausage flavor and smokiness stays the same with an added pickle zip,” said Neil Dudley, vice president of business development at Pederson’s.

As the sausage soaks in the brine, it develops a tangy flavor while lowering the product’s pH levels to 4.39 or less. As a result, the final product, once removed from the salt and vinegar solution and packaged, becomes shelf stable. Pederson’s Mild Pickled Sausage doesn’t require refrigeration, making it an ideal source of protein on the go.

“If you’re going to go hiking, snow skiing, horseback riding, ultramarathon running, this is a great option of high-quality protein to take along in your backpack, in your pocket — wherever you might be able to carry it along with you,” Dudley said.

The new product innovation hits close to home for Dudley, as he grew up eating pickled sausage like candy.

“As a kid I loved pickled sausage,” he said. “My grandparents wouldn’t let us have candy, but they would let us have pickled sausage when we went to the convenience store. Some 30 years later we developed our pickled sausage as a better-for-you option to the other products on the market — something we could feel good about sending to school with our kids as a great source of protein in their lunch boxes.”

Pederson’s Mild Pickled Sausage uses pork sourced from the company’s own farms in the upper Midwest and beef from like-minded producers of third-party verified humanely raised programs, such as Global Animal Partnership (GAP) and Certified Humane.

Pederson’s attributes several health benefits to its pickled sausage, including no sugar added, no red 40, no antibiotics ever and no added growth hormones.

“Pickled sausage is a great source of protein because it repairs and rebuilds tissues in my body,” Dudley said. “It’s good for bone growth and muscle growth. I just don’t know how our bodies would get along without high quality protein.”

Teton Waters Ranch looks to improve health benefits of conventional meat products by incorporating grass-fed beef. (Source: Teton Waters Ranch)

Bison benefits

When considering expanding into the bison hot dog category, Teton Waters Ranch, a Grass Fed Foods brand based in Loveland Colo., first evaluated the market.

Jeff Tripician, chief executive officer of Grass Fed Foods, noted that the category was strikingly small due to two main reasons: For one, price was high. And two, feedback from consumers indicated that many found the intensity of the bison flavor off-putting.

Teton Waters Ranch addressed both issues with the launch of its Uncured Bison Dogs and Bison Bratwurst, which rolled out a couple months ago. The items are currently available in smaller retail stores, with larger retailers anticipating introducing the line just in time for grilling season this March or April.

The new bison line features 51% bison and 49% grass-fed-beef.

“We did the taste you’re normally used to — beef — with the bison,” Tripician said. “It’s still a bison, but it’s also made with grass-fed-beef.”

The unique blend not only mellowed out the gamey flavor from the bison but also considerably brought down the price, giving consumers a more palatable, affordable option.

“Blending the bison was very easy because it behaved so similar to beef,” Tripician said, describing the R&D process of the bison dogs in comparison to Teton Taste Buds, which blends beef and vegetables.

Targeted toward kids, the Taste Buds line launched last year, beginning with three frozen items — mini corn dogs, burgers and meatballs — and refrigerated hot dogs. The hot dogs, sold as Top Dogs, combine 85% grass-fed-beef with veggies, such as mushrooms, carrots and butternut squash.

Tripician noted the development of the Top Dogs invoked more trial and error than the bison sausages due to the differing moisture contents of the blended ingredients. However, with a little R&D, Teton Waters Ranch settled on a recipe that was received with praise.

Teton tested the product at the Healthy Kids Expo in September 2023, which was attended by 900 kids and their parents.

“We got raving reviews from the parents,” Tripician said. “The kids just ate them. That was kind of the goal there.”

According to Teton Waters Ranch, Top Dogs bring the flavor kids crave with the nutrition they need, offering 27% less sodium and 38% less total fat than a leading competitor’s uncured hot dog.

The Teton Taste Buds Top Dogs have been honored as a finalist in the NEXTY Awards, which recognize the most progressive, impactful and trustworthy products in the natural products industry.