What Part of the Pig Does Pepperoni Come From?

By Staff WriterLast Updated December 07, 2023

Pepperoni comes from pork trimmings, which is mostly fat with small amounts of meat still attached. Pepperoni also contains beef trimmings, blended with salt, paprika, white pepper, cayenne pepper, anise seed and allspice through grinding, chopping, and mixing and cased in artificial casing.

Pepperoni is not cooked; instead, it is cured with salts, especially sodium nitrate. Pepperoni is similar to the Italian sausage salami; however, America’s version of the sausage, a favorite choice for pizza topping, is not the same as Italian peperone. In Italian, peperone refers to sweet peppers, especially bell peppers. Chicken and turkey may also be used in pepperoni.