Natural Hog Casings for Sausage

This was my first time ever making sausages, and also first time using this product. I am so happy with how the sausages turned out - the casings are absolutely excellent! I perused a lot of the Q&As here and thought I'd capture my experience below, in case it might help others to have most questions answered in one place.To clean and prepare the casings for use, I actually followed the steps provided by the manufacturer on their website, see below:1. Rinse salt from casings with fresh water.2. Put casings into lukewarm water for 24 hours. Here, I added a spoonful of white vinegar as I was told this helped.3. Massage casings and separate strands to prevent dry spots.The next day, I rinsed the casings again, with cold water. Then, using one casing at a time, I opened one end, and ran cold water through it (over the sink), then I placed the casing over the stuffing 'gun' (I used a manual one). I tied a small knot at the end, and started stuffing the casing. Since this was my first time, my sausages did not come out exactly the same size, but in average they were abt 8 - 9 inches long, and abt 1 - 1.25 inches thick. From one casing, I made 2 sausages. Of course, this will vary on your preference. Some people use an entire casing for just one - very long sausage. I was thinking of how to freeze them later, and chose a size that would fit into my freezer bags.My package contained 14 casings, ranging in length from 32 inches to 54 inches. As I mentioned above, I made two sausages out of one casing.When finished stuffing each sausage, I tied another knot at the second end of the casing. When done, I poked each sausage with a needle (you can also use a toothpick) to let the air out - about 10 times per sausage. This will prevent the sausages from "exploding" on you when frying or grilling them.I was amazed (and, relieved!) at how easy it was to use these casings! The plastic 'ring' that holds them helps a lot, in keeping them untangled. They might seem tangled up, but since I soaked mine in lukewarm water for 24 hrs, they were very easy to separate the next day, prior to using them. Oh, and I should also mention, upon opening the package, there was a very slight smell (as expected - this tells you these are fresh casings, as they should be!). However, after rinsing and soaking them, there was absolutely no smell the next day. Not sure if the vinegar helped or not, this is just something that my family back in Romania advised I'd add to the soaking water. Regardless, there was no odor when I started stuffing!I highly, highly recommend this product - and I know I will become a loyal customer of this manufacturer!

I bought them twice, and very happy. Good quality, good value for the money, good size, good length. Very recommended.

Not an experienced sausage maker, so consider the source. These worked great: after soaking for a couple of hours and running water through them, they were very easy to use: went over the stuffing tube easily, strong, no holes, even diameter. A little stinky out of the bag, as expected, but no smell after soaking or later. They seemed to stick to the stuffing tube a little towards the end, wetting them helped and experts suggest adding a tiny bit of soda (like 1tsp/qt) to soaking water to make them a little more slippery. Great afterwards: no breaks when making links, dried nicely, no noticeable taste, smell or texture. Leave a long tail (6 inches or so) to tie off at either end after squeezing the air out. Don't tie off before filling: you will have a big air bubble at the end. Any unused soaked casings can be drained of extra water and packed in coarse salt and put back in the bag - and refrigerate; do not freeze.

I bought this brand and another to compare during my latest sausage-making marathon. These casings were better than the others. They're clean, not too tangled, and slide on the stuffer well. No problems with splitting, even after smoking.

It is good to use for sausage. It is packed with salt, it has a large amount for what you pay for. There’s no weird smell or texture. It’s good for sausages I guess?

Very nice casing - doesn’t tear while stuffing. Very smooth not crackly- looking when stuffed. Not chewy when cooked. I wish this company would also sell smaller casings like for breakfast sausage. I would definitely purchase this casing again.

I'm not super excited about this product.1. Size difference... casings ate different length and diameter2. Even though I followed by instructions explicitly, I still had issues fitting onto fill tube and casings split often while filling.

Work great