AI-generated A pink pork sausage from Graus, a town in the Aragonese foothills of the Pyrenees, tied into a horseshoe and sold both fresh and air-dried. The colour gives away its main rule: no paprika, which sets it apart from the red chorizos of the rest of Spain and from Chile's longaniza. At least 70% of the filling is lean pork. The seasoning changes from house to house, built on pepper and salt with some mix of oregano, nutmeg, clove, anise or sweet wine. Three companies make it under a shared collective trademark, and once a year the town grills one sausage nearly a kilometre long in the street.
History
The recipe grew out of home pig slaughters, which explains why no single formula exists. Municipal records certify Melsa as a butcher from 1860, and Melsa, Aventín and Casa Maella remain the three makers today. In 1991 the town held the first edition of what became the Fiesta de la Longaniza. In 1996 the makers stuffed a sausage of 505.47 metres and 339 kilos, which Guinness World Records certified. Cooking it on small grills took until the early hours, so the next year Graus built a grill of 25 square metres, turned with a telescopic crane. The makers later formed an association, registered Longaniza de Graus as a collective trademark and wrote down quality rules. The Government of Aragon awarded the festival regional tourist interest status in 2013. On 25 July 2026, the 35th edition measured a new longest piece at 915.86 metres.
Ingredients
Preparation
Makers season lean pork and fattier cuts with their own spice mix, leaving out paprika, and fill the meat into natural pork casing calibrated to one thickness. The sausage gets tied into a horseshoe between 20 and 70 cm long. Fresh longaniza rests for a few days and then goes on the grill, into a pan or into the oven. The cured version hangs in the air for months and gets sliced and eaten raw at room temperature. Melsa also sells a lightly dried oreada, whose formula took two and a half years to develop.
Taste
Pork comes first, followed by black pepper and the warm notes of nutmeg and clove. Without paprika there is no smoke and no sweetness of pepper, so the herbs and any wine in the mix stay easy to pick out. Each of the three houses tastes a little different.
Texture
Firm, with a coarse grind of pale pink pork and white fat. The natural casing browns in stripes on the grill. Cured longaniza turns dense and sliceable.
Rituals & Traditions
Keep the skin on cured pieces
José Luis Romeo of Melsa recommends eating the house's cured products with their skin, mould included.
The last Saturday of July
Women of the Santa Águeda association stuff the sausage in the afternoon, and at about eight the giant grill starts in the closed street. The turning by crane is the moment everyone waits for. Portions are free.
