Sujuk

The Turkish word sucuk is derived from Old Turkic suğut or sugut, a term attested in medieval Turkic sources. Cognate names are also present in other Turkic languages, e.g. , shujyq; , chuchuk. Franciscus a Mesgnien Meninski in his Thesaurus recorded the word sucuk () in Ottoman Turkish in late 17th century. The Turkish name has been adopted largely unmodified by other languages in the region, including: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; . ==Origin==

Sujuk is associated with Turkic meat-preservation traditions and is widely regarded as having developed in the Turkic world before becoming a prominent sausage of Ottoman and later Turkish cuisine. It is now produced and consumed in Türkiye, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Caucasus under a variety of related names. ==Production==

In Turkey, beef is the main raw material for sucuk production. At the beginning of the process the meat is preground in plates and tested for its fat content. Afterwards the meat is mixed with curing salt, which contains 0.5% sodium nitrite, and stored for 8–16 hours in for further processing. Later the preground meat is mixed with frozen and ground tail fat, beef tallow, suet and additives like spices, ascorbate, dextrose and starter culture. The mixture is ground again in plates, which forms the mosaic structure of sucuk. Thenceforth the product is filled in casings made of collagen or fiber and these casings are twisted or tied to portionize sucuk. Sucuk is then prepared for ripening process, which consists of fermentation and post-fermentation stages. In the first day of fermentation stage the product is left in a high relative humidity (RH) environment around . After that the RH and the temperature is gradually dropped each day, resulting to and 88% RH in the last and third day of fermentation. At the end of the stage pH of the product must be dropped to 4.9–5.0. In the post-fermentation stage sucuk is matured and dried until the moisture content of the sausage is under 40%. File:Sudzhuk from Armenia 2.JPG|Suǰux from Armenia File:Sudjuk.jpg|Sudzhuk from Bulgaria File:Sucuk-1.jpg|Sucuk from Turkey File:Sucuk_(1).jpg|Home-made suxhuk from Kosovo == Nutrition ==

It was reported that sucuk from Turkey on average contained 24.5% protein, 31.5% fat, 35.65% moisture and 3.80% salt. Fat content of sucuk is highly variable; some sucuk brands tested contained only 23% fat, meanwhile others exceeded 42%. ==Dishes prepared with sujuk==

While sujuk can be eaten raw, it is typically cooked before consumption. Thin slices of sujuk can be pan-fried in a bit of butter, while larger pieces may be grilled. Sucuklu yumurta, which literally means "eggs with sujuk", is commonly served as a Turkish breakfast dish. Sucuklu yumurta is a simple dish of fried eggs cooked together with sujuk, but sujuk may also be added to other egg dishes like menemen (which is similar to shakshouka but with scrambled eggs instead of poached). Sujuk can be added to many dishes including bean stew (kuru fasulye), filled phyllo dough pastries (burek) and as a topping for pizza or pide. File:Sucuk with eggs.jpg|Eggs with sujuk File:Samuna me suxhuk.JPG|Bread with sujuk ==Geographical indication==

In 2025, Armenia applied for geographical indication (GI) registration for Armenian sujukh. ==See also==