Pepperoni may seem like the quintessential Italian sausage, but did you know it’s not actually even Italian? It’s true. America’s favorite pizza topping was most likely invented by Italian-American immigrants in New York City.
“Purely an Italian-American creation, like chicken Parmesan,” food writer and historian John Mariani told The New York Times. “Peperoni” is the Italian word for large bell peppers, and while our version of pepperoni is not known to Italian cuisine, it is similar to some salamis found in Calabria and Apulia. The first reference to American pepperoni occurred in 1919, Mariani added, as pizzerias and Italian butcher shops began flourishing in the New World.
Since then, it’s been all positive growth for pepperoni. It’s estimated that at least half of the pizzas sold in the U.S. feature pepperoni as one of their ingredients, and leading producer Hormel announced that it sold enough pepperoni – 40 million feet – to tunnel through the Earth in the run-up to the 2011 Super Bowl.
Today, pepperoni is made from finely-ground cured pork and beef, with paprika and cayenne providing the spicy flavor. The pink-red color comes from the air-drying process that hardens the sausage into logs which can be sliced on to pizza or into just about any other recipe.